5 Equity Insights Every School Transportation Leader Should Know
Published September 2, 2025
Electric school buses (ESBs) are on the rise in Canada, but without equity at the core, this transition could leave the very communities it aims to serve behind.
CESBA’s new report, Embedding Equity in Canada’s Transition to Electric School Buses, dives into how the shift to ESBs is affecting Indigenous communities, students with disabilities, bus drivers, and others, and what needs to change to make the transition more equitable.
What Equity Looks Like Across the ESB Lifecycle
The report examines equity impacts across the five phases of the ESB lifecycle: resource extraction, manufacturing, adoption, use, and disposal.
Each phase reveals unique challenges and opportunities for building a more inclusive transition. Here are the key insights.
1. Resource Extraction
Canada is home to many ESB components, including critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and copper. But what is the cost of extracting these components?
- Environmental and health: Mining operations can harm ecosystems and human health, as seen in the Mount Polley disaster in B.C., which contaminated Indigenous water sources.
- Social: Mining camps have been linked to increased rates of violence and substance abuse in nearby communities, particularly affecting Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.
- Economic: Government investments in mining infrastructure can divert resources from essential services. Meanwhile, tax breaks for mining companies reduce public revenues.
- Governance: Projects like the Coastal GasLink pipeline and Ontario’s Bill 5 have shown how mining and resource development can proceed without proper consultation or consent from Indigenous nations.
- Labour and safety: Mining jobs are often less accessible to women and immigrants, and working conditions—especially in Canadian-owned operations abroad—can pose serious health and safety risks.
2. Manufacturing
The number of ESB manufacturers in North America is on the rise. These include Lion, MicroBird, Green Power, IC Bus, and Thomas Built Buses. However, this growth doesn’t necessarily translate into more secure jobs for manufacturing workers.
Several factors contribute to this disconnect. First, assembling ESBs typically requires fewer labour hours than diesel buses. Additionally, the majority of ESB manufacturing jobs are concentrated in Quebec and the United States. Finally, the sector relies heavily on government subsidies, making it vulnerable to policy changes and funding delays, as seen with the Zero Emission Transit Fund.
3. Adoption
The pace of ESB adoption varies widely across Canada. Some jurisdictions have introduced targets and funding programs that have encouraged uptake. However, beyond government incentives, a range of barriers continues to limit adoption. These barriers include:
- Limited availability and range of accessible minibuses that are often used for transporting students with disabilities
- Higher baseline school transportation costs
- Competing funding priorities
- Long travel distances and remoteness
- Poor road conditions
- Limited access to charging infrastructure or the energy grid
- Colder climates
- Lack of administrative or financial capacity
- Smaller fleet size
Due to these barriers, school districts serving rural, Indigenous communities, or high-needs student populations may have little or no access to ESBs. In contrast, school districts in large urban or suburban districts in a province with strong incentives may already be leading the transition.
4. Use
While ESBs offer clear environmental and health benefits, their use can unintentionally reinforce existing inequities faced by school transportation staff, particularly in rural and resource-limited areas. These inequalities can include understaffing, low wages, and limited access to training opportunities.
For example, drivers may have reduced opportunities for supplementary income from extracurricular trips because of the limited range of ESBs. The need to charge buses overnight at depots, rather than at home, can also increase travel time and costs for rural drivers.
For mechanics, the shift to ESBs may mean fewer work hours due to more simple vehicle design compounded by manufacturer-controlled repairs.
Similarly, the use of ESBs alone doesn’t resolve the lack of accessible equipment and training needed to support students with disabilities. Nor do ESBs automatically prioritize deployment in pollution-burdened communities that stand to benefit the most.
What you can do as a leader in school transportation
- Prioritize ESB use in pollution-burdened and underserved areas.
- Support mechanic training by applying to programs like the Sustainable Jobs Training Fund or Canada Job Grant (through your province).
- Require repair access clauses in procurement contracts with manufacturers.
- Become a Living Wage employer.
- Advocate to your provincial Ministry of Education for dedicated ESB operational funding and ESB maintenance apprenticeship programs.
5. Disposal
There is currently no mandatory regulation for the disposal of retired school buses or ESB batteries in Canada–only a voluntary, industry-led initiative. This regulatory gap can lead to environmental burdens being distributed in ways that exacerbate existing inequities. For example:
- Waste and recycling facilities are often located in low-income and racialized communities.
- Disposal may disproportionally impact Indigenous communities, where enforcement of disposal regulations is weaker.
- Outdated and polluting vehicles are often exported to countries in the Global South.
What you can do as a leader in school transportation
- Buy from ESB manufacturers that participate in the EV Battery Recovery Program, and encourage more manufacturers to join.
- Push the federal government (4) to legalize the use of repowered buses, strengthen export rules for retired buses, and apply the Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act to EV battery and bus-related waste and recycling facilities.
- Call on your Ministry of Environment to implement an Extended Producer Responsibility policy for end-of-life EV batteries.
Conclusion
ESBs offer a promising path toward cleaner school transportation. Without intentional planning, ESBs risk reinforcing the inequities we aim to solve. From resource extraction to disposal, each phase of the ESB lifecycle presents opportunities to embed equity and justice into Canada’s transition.
CESBA’s full report provides deeper insights and policy recommendations to support school transportation authorities in leading this transition with equity.
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Justice Canada (JC), Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and Global Affairs Canada (GAC).
- ESDC, NRCan, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).
- NRCan, Transport Canada (TC), and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC).
- TC, GAC, and ECCC.
Valerie Tremblay
Lead, Sustainable Mobility
Green Communities Canada
