Student Transportation of America (STA) is partnering with Bloom Township District 206 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to launch its largest electric school bus deployment to date. Beginning this fall, 25 International CE Series electric school buses will be added to the district’s fleet as part of a broader sustainability initiative.

Training in Advance of Deployment

In preparation, STA hosted a full-day electric bus training session on July 8 at its local terminal. More than 40 attendees—including district staff, STA drivers, and maintenance technicians—participated in sessions focused on EV operations, safety protocols, and vehicle maintenance.

“We’re glad to support Bloom Township with this EV rollout,” said Rachel Lane, STA’s vice president of electrification and sustainability. “Training is a key step in ensuring the new buses are safely integrated into daily operations.”

The hands-on session covered charging procedures, emergency response, and best practices for driving and maintaining electric buses. The buses were delivered to the site one week prior to training.

District Deployment and Funding

All 25 buses will be in service for the 2025-26 school year, including two vehicles assigned to special education routes. Additional electric buses may be added later in the year. 

The new vehicles were funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean School Bus Program, which supports the replacement of older diesel buses with zero-emission models.

Data Collection and Fleet Expansion

STA will monitor battery and component performance throughout the deployment to gather insights into electric vehicle operations in an urban setting. According to Lane, this data will help inform future deployments in urban, suburban, and rural markets.

This initiative is part of STA’s larger Green Fleet strategy, which has expanded into several new markets in 2024 and 2025, including Seymour, Connecticut; Wells, Maine; Weare, New Hampshire; White River Valley, Vermont; and Barker, New York. STA expects to have at least 140 new electric school buses in service by 2026.