Press Release

Electric School Buses in New York City

09/18/96

New York Power Authority, New York City Board Launch Electric
School Bus

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 -- The New York Power Authority and
the New York City Board of Education Monday rolled out the Northeast's
first electric-powered, emission-free school bus.

The $180,000 bus, funded by the Power Authority and the City
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), will transport pupils in
the Bronx to and from their elementary schools as part of a 12-month
pilot project.

New York Bus Service, a Bronx-based company that provides all regular
school bus transportation for the Board of Education in that borough,
will operate the vehicle, the first to fully integrate electric power
with a standard transit-style body and chassis.

Philip J. Pellegrino, the Power Authority's senior vice president
energy efficiency and technology; Kevin Alworth, deputy director,
pupil transportation for the Board of Education; and New York Bus
Service Chairman Edward Arrigoni unveiled the bus in a ceremony across
the street from Madison Square Garden.

The vehicle will be on display through Thursday at the Garden during
the eighth annual Sustainable Transportation Solar/Electric Vehicle
symposium organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association.

Pellegrino, who represented Power Authority Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer C.D. "Rapp" Rappleyea, noted that the electric bus
is the first of three to be funded or co-funded by the Power Authority
for school transportation in New York City and Westchester County.

"School buses are ideal candidates for electrification," Pellegrino
said. "They typically serve the same routes every day. And, in the New
York Metropolitan area, the range requirements are not as great as for
other mass transit vehicles and can be comfortably met with current
technologies."

Pellegrino said the average route for a New York City school bus is 23
miles, well within the new bus' 80-mile range.

"We would like to thank the New York Power Authority and the city DEP
for securing this emission-free bus," said Alworth. "It will help to
provide cleaner air, and that's good for our students and for all the
city's citizens.  We expect to have the bus in service within the next
three weeks."

Arrigoni said, "We are proud to be part of the launch of this new
technology. It is significant environmentally because it offers an
alternative source of power while maintaining high standards of
construction quality and design safety." He noted that since schools
have standard operating hours, the electric-powered bus can be
recharged overnight when electricity demands and costs are lower.

"This vehicle is environmentally and cost efficient," he said.

Pellegrino said that, in addition to improving air quality, electric
school buses reduce noise on neighborhood streets and require
significantly lower preventive maintenance costs than diesel-fueled
buses. He also said fuel costs should be lower than for conventional
buses.

Unlike other electric-powered buses, which use modified,
lighter-weight designs, the new bus--manufactured by Blue Bird
Corp. of Fort Valley, Ga.--has an all-steel body. It has a
230-horsepower electric motor powered by 112 12-volt absorbed
electrolyte batteries. Its maximum speed is 55 miles per hour.

The Power Authority, with co-funding by the DEP, expects to provide a
second electric school bus to the city later this year, for use in
Brooklyn. The Authority also will acquire a bus for the Byram Hills
School District in Westchester County.

The Power Authority, the nation's largest state-owned power agency,
supplies electricity to governments, school districts and other public
entities in the city and Westchester.

The New York City Board of Education has the largest school bus
operation in the United States, with almost 3,000 diesel-powered buses
in service.