Step-by-Step Guide | October 17, 2022
Step 1.4: Create a Roadmap with Equity Strategies
Overview
At the beginning of the project, school districts should develop a roadmap for school bus fleet electrification — a high-level document that sets out a vision for your electric school bus project, success factors, potential risks, key stakeholders, equity considerations and strategies, then identifies the key steps and roles that are needed to get electric school buses on the road in your community.
Roadmaps should include time-bound vision statements that include context, goals, criteria and conditions. The roadmap, vision statement and equity strategies should all be flexible documents that are adjusted as the project moves forward and receives feedback.
A roadmap can be drafted by a core project team and refined through collaboration with other stakeholders, particularly community members, or the district can hold a larger workshop or event to include stakeholders and kick off the development of a roadmap together. Regardless of when it occurs, community engagement is essential for the development of an effective and equitable roadmap.
Things to do:
- Develop a fleet inventory inclusive of bus types and accessibility features
- Review other school district roadmaps and fleet transition plans
- Hold a roadmapping work session or workshop, either internally or with key stakeholders such as utilities and community groups
- Identify key milestones, decision points, timelines and roles
- Identify strategies to center and advance equity in your roadmap
- Connect with peer school districts for insights
- Share your draft roadmap with stakeholders to solicit input for modifications
Ways to include equity:
- Integrate community needs into the roadmap by collaborating with stakeholders—students, parents, teachers, mechanics and local residents—to co-create project goals and priorities
- Analyze publicly accessible datasets on air pollution, population demographics and income levels to understand local disparities and the connection between transportation and health in your community
- Hold planning workshops and invite diverse stakeholders to participate
- Educate stakeholders on the potential equity benefits from electric school buses
- Assess access challenges with your current fleet, find opportunities to make your fleet more accessible and commit to universal transportation access as part of the electrification plan
- Add equity actions from across this guide into your roadmap
Questions to consider:
- How many buses are you looking to add to your fleet and when? How many of them include accessibility features?
- What is your current bus replacement schedule and how do you currently fund replacements?
- What is the one-line vision statement for your electric school bus project?
- How will you measure success? What baselines will you establish to track progress against? Who is the school district accountable to?
- How can your roadmap center equity (for example, through stakeholder engagement, facility assessment, route planning, workforce development, air quality monitoring, etc.)?
- How do students and drivers measure success? Does the roadmap incorporate these metrics?
- What are the potential risks for the project?
- What are the topline milestones and associated due dates and roles?
- What stakeholders should be engaged and involved in roadmap development and how?
Potential stakeholders:
- District transportation director
- District business and procurement staff
- District fleet manager
- District energy manager
- District facilities manager
- District superintendent
- School bus contractor (if applicable)
- Electric utility representative
- Community-based organizations, including environmental organizations, environmental justice organizations and organizations that serve the populations around bus depot locations
- Community or technical partners with expertise in transportation electrification
- Organizations with expertise in transportation electrification, such as Clean Cities and Communities Coalitions
- Parent and teacher organizations
Resources:
- School Bus Electrification Template Roadmap – WRI's Electric School Bus Initiative: An editable template with sample timelines, project management tools and considerations.
- School District Learnings – 12 Tips on Electric School Bus Adoption – WRI's Electric School Bus Initiative: Tips from districts who have electrified.
- School Bus Electrification Center – US Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center: A resource hub and guide to school bus electrification.
- School Bus Electrification Guidebook – Oregon Department of Energy: A complete overview of the fleet electrification process for a school district.
- Next Stop: Access! - WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative: Learn what students with disabilities need in the electric school bus transition.
- Needs Assessment for Equitable School Bus Electrification in U.S. School Districts – WRI's Electric School Bus Initiative: Lessons learned from surveys of school district staff to understand barriers and enablers for electric school bus adoption.
- An Equity Framework for School Bus Electrification – Clean Energy Works: A practical approach to identify entry points for operationalizing equity in the development and implementation of policies and programs to deploy electric school buses