First Student brings electric buses to Billings schools. By Alissa Byrd First Student is the largest student transportation company in North America, transporting 2.7 million children to school every morning and
ment, a global settlement due to Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal. States received prorated percentages of the settlement and had a number of options for what they could do with that funding.
almost the same number back home at the end of the day. Some stu-
“One of those was purchasing clean school buses for operations in
dents also take the buses to band practice, soccer tournaments and
their state,” said Kevin Matthews, Head of Electrification at First Student..
other activities. About four years ago, First Student made the decision to add electric
Montana received funding from this settlement and chose to use some of it to purchase electric school buses.
school buses to its fleet, driven by its commitment to safety and creating
“On top of that, our good friends at NorthWestern Energy, after we
a zero-emission environment for students and communities. Recently,
won the dollars, we went to you all and explained what was going on and
First Student began using electric school buses in Billings, Montana.
you assisted us on the charging infrastructure,” he said.
With the support of the Billings School District, First Student secured funding through a grant opportunity issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality as part of the Volkswagen mitigation trust settle-
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Kevin emphasized that the support from NorthWestern Energy was crucial to the success of the project.
