Lack of Worker Input Creates Bumps in the Road for EV Buses

Electric buses are rolling out nationally, and promise to help clean up city air. California is leading the way, with more than 650 active vehicles in 2022, and has mandated a completely electric or hydrogen fleet by 2040.

But what happens when managers pick buses that can’t drive up the hills?

Drivers and mechanics say bosses picked buses without regard for the requirements of the routes. Safety is also an issue. School bus drivers in San Francisco say their new EV buses have a fiberglass frame that puts a blinding glare in the rear view mirror. They also worry the bus frame, widened to fit large batteries, now barely fits in the road lane, which might cause accidents.

“The technology is just not there yet. It’s not good enough for the situations we’re in, but I hope that it will be soon,” said Meghann Adams, a bus driver in San Francisco, and president of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 1741.

As transport agencies shift to cleaner buses, lack of worker input is creating bumps in the road, and management could be poised for a power grab by outsourcing mechanic jobs. But California union activists are showing how to use their organizing and expertise to steer this new green transition.

‘ON THE RECORD’

Adams works for Zum, a private transit company for public school buses. Zum received a $26 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2021 with the goal of being 100 percent electric by 2025. The San Francisco district currently has six EV schools buses made by Lion Electric.

“A lot of the problems are really in the design,” said Adams.

She said the buses struggle to make it up San Francisco hills, are so wide they are difficult to turn, and create fire concerns, since the EV batteries are located underneath the passengers.

During union meetings, Adams said that members discuss these safety issues, which then circulate around the yard. Trainers have been the most vocal since they are the first to use the buses and teach drivers how they operate.

The trainers and operators say “this is not safe,” said Adams. “I’ve submitted report after report [to management]. They don’t listen.” She also filed complaints with the safety department but nothing happened.

Last fall, Adams listed the concerns and collected more than a dozen signatures from trainers and drivers. She delivered the letter to the legislative director of SMART, the Civilian Section of Highway Patrol (which school buses fall under), and the head of Zum.

There’s been no response.

“I did not expect them to respond," Adams said. "But the big thing is that we’ve come together, drivers have raised these very serious concerns, and now you know where we stand should the worst thing happen. [This way] we can protect ourselves.”

‘WE’RE PUSHING ON IT’

“[The] leading electric bus company Proterra is building these buses really shitty. They shake a lot, they break a lot,” said James Sandoval, a full-time bus operator in Santa Cruz, SMART Local 0023 member, and International Vice President of SMART.

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In April 2023, his local acquired five Proterra buses.

“The electric ones, the power is kind of there. We have a little problem with getting up to the UC campus. And we don't have an electric bus that can get up the hill for our Highway 17 route into Santa Cruz,” said Sandoval.

In 2022, the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District demonstrated that it was technically possible to drive a bus up the Highway 17 hill, but once they finally made it to the top, the bus didn’t have enough charge left to make it back.

“They’re always dead, they’re not reliable. The range is only 150 miles, [so drivers] need to come back a lot” to charge the buses, said Sandoval.

The disruption for drivers and passengers is worsened by management’s failure to provide enough charging stations.

Sandoval said the union is trying to prod management to explore other EV models that would better suit the needs of drivers and riders. “We’re pushing on it with the board.”

NON-UNION REPAIRS?

In 2010, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) began purchasing hybrid buses, without providing training for the ATU Local 265 mechanics on how to repair them. Having unprepared mechanics work on this new technology raised safety concerns among workers. When the union raised this issue to management, rather than providing training, they bought extended warranties on the buses.

Repairs done under warranty are outsourced, with the work being sent to non-union mechanics. “The company thinks they’re saving money [by outsourcing], but the manpower is within the agency,” said retiree John Courtney, former Local 265 president.

According to Courtney, VTA made the excuse that ATU mechanics were not qualified to work on EV technology, but they could become qualified if VTA provided training.

“You want to bring this technology on, we embrace it, but we have folks who are mechanics that you haven’t provided new technology training. Coordinate the warranty with training efforts to make sure people are safe,” Courtney said.

The local has been trying for years to get a say in the roll out of new technology. The union filed many grievances and went to arbitration. In December 2022, the VTA buckled and created a ‘New Technology Committee’ which requires communications between VTA and ATU on emerging technology, safety concerns, and training for employees. If they are unable to resolve an issue, then the State Mediation and Conciliation Service would step in.

“We fought for this agreement to have all these matters discussed with the union and the company instead of unilateral management decisions,” said Courtney.

Audrey Elberger is Labor Notes’ labor-climate intern. Keith Brower Brown contributed reporting to this article.