ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)–There’s a push to make yellow school buses more green. To help transition from fossil fuel to electric, New York school districts and school bus contractors will be able to apply for $100 million in funding starting November 29th.

“When the Environmental Bond Act was passed in the fall, we were happy that it got past to help assist in this transition and now to see the money flowing, it’s good because we really need to start on this transition,” said David Christopher, Executive Director of New York Association for Pupil Transportation.

It’s all a part of a state initiative to have new school busses sold in New York State be zero- emission by 2027 and all school buses on the road be zero emission by 2035.

“There are actually a few dozen electric buses across the state,” explained Adam Ruder, Director of Clean Transportation at NYSERDA. “At least a dozen school districts have either purchase passes or have them on order and many more dozens more are in the process as well.”

Ruder explained how far these buses can go when charged.

“Many school buses can go up to 200 miles on a charge, where most school buses only in New York only tend to run about 80 miles per day. So in most cases, school buses will have no problem completing the routes that are there now.”

The $100 million is part of $500 million dollar commitment.

“We would encourage schools to start their infrastructure study right away because there is quite a lag between when you get the study completed, and when you’ll be actually able to use the infrastructure that you have to literally build,” said Christopher. “So time is of the essence.”