By Samuel Stait, Reporter at Large – February 2, 2021 It was recently reported that the Del Norte Unified School District was to order two new seventy two passenger electric powered school buses to add to its current fleet of diesel powered buses. The cost in total for the two buses, just under a million dollars of previously budgeted money. I have to wonder after last summer's interest in floating a new facilities bond by the district, just how they have become quite so flush with cash for this outlay. Leaving that aside, there are a few questions that need to be asked during this time where the need for additional buses to field and maintain is somewhat troubling. The District's very own transportation director, Derrick Campbell admits that bus ridership is down and one route has been totally eliminated, so why the need for two additional buses? And what is it about electric buses at a breath taking cost of nearly a half million dollars a piece that makes this investment so worthy? Within the article is a long list of benefits, electric to diesel, that remind me of the words and pictures on a slick, colorful, and wordy advertising brochure used to highlight a product to its best advantage. The problem is for many hyped products is that they very rarely live up to the hype. Range, durability, cost savings are generally used by the company from experience in ideal conditions, and can rapidly decline when those conditions are not met. In rainy, windy, Del Norte County will the buses operate as advertised. Not very likely. Will the maintenance be that much cheaper? Not very likely. Will the buses' batteries last that long or go as far as advertised? Not likely. Has the district been able to talk to people who have purchased these vehicles and used them for a reasonable amount of time? How have they fared? It does not sound as though those vehicles have been around for that long, so what's up with the sudden interest in electric buses? Is this our local school district trying to be environmentally conscious at a time when it should be more fiscally conservative? What next, solar panels? In case the school district's transportation director is unaware, nearly all public transportation is heavily subsidized. Sometimes up to seventy five percent of its total operating costs. Public transportation would cease to exist if it had to pay its own way electric powered vehicles or otherwise. The school district currently has sufficient buses to provide service on every route that it maintains. Why, exactly it the district adding yet more potential problems to its already overflowing state. Is it because it is new and bright and shiny? Is it being socially responsive? What is going on here, spending nearly a a million dollars because it is budgeted? Somebody help us here. Please explain in some sort of coherent fashion where the smart thinking is here.