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Council approves 5‑year school bus contract; bid asks vendors to price electric vehicles and charging
Summary
The council adopted a five‑year school bus transportation contract and placed the item on file (9–0). School staff said the bid asks vendors to price battery‑electric buses and charging infrastructure and includes a one‑year electrification assessment; the district currently has one operational electric bus.
The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously Dec. 23 to adopt an order allowing the purchasing agent to award a five‑year school bus transportation contract and placed the item on file.
Councilor Nolan asked whether the contract would advance the city’s clean‑fleet goals and whether federal grants had been pursued to support electrification. Damon Smith, chief operating officer for Cambridge Public Schools, said the bid includes a clause requesting pricing for electric vehicles and charging and seeks to move the district from its current single electric vehicle toward roughly 40% battery‑electric buses over the five‑year contract period. Smith said the district currently has one electric bus that is intermittently operational because of charging and repair constraints and proposed a one‑year electrification assessment with the awarded vendor to identify how to accelerate adoption.
"The contract itself or the bid itself does have a clause or an area for electric vehicles," Smith told the council. "In the language it talks about... pricing in the bid to reflect electric vehicles, the purchase of electric vehicles, charging electric vehicles… moving it from 0 to 40% of the fleet being electric battery vehicles."
Smith and the deputy city manager noted practical constraints: space to house and charge buses, charging‑infrastructure siting, and manufacturing lead times for electric school buses. Smith estimated a typical order‑to‑delivery wait of about 18 months to two years for buses and stressed that the one‑year vendor assessment was intended to identify opportunities to accelerate electrification beyond the 40% target in the contract language.
Councilor Nolan said she supported the contract conditioned on the vendor assessment and urged the administration to pursue federal grant opportunities. The council voted 9–0 to adopt the order and place the contract item on file.
What’s next: The purchasing agent will proceed with awarding the contract per the adopted order; the district will carry out the planned electrification assessment with the awarded vendor and return results to the council or relevant committees per contract terms.
Sources: Council floor discussion and Q&A with Damon Smith at the Dec. 23 Cambridge City Council meeting.
