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by cpwright 1554 days ago
I'm not sure why you would assume that the average school bus buyer can't do a spreadsheet. Our local suburban NY school district is fairly run-of-the mill, and has a budget of $84 million with several million dollars of that being for transportation. We have our own busses and drivers, and they spend about a quarter million dollars a year on diesel fuel.

The Superintendent for business affairs that has an MBA from Columbia and earns $231,000, and should clearly be able to handle a spreadsheet and then making the yearly powerpoint presentations.
2 comments
ZeroGravitas 1553 days ago
It was more a general point, and I did say 'perhaps', which was based on reading a headline that said "get EV busses for less than your monthly spend" rather than "EVs have lower TCO" which is the pitch I'd use for the more sophisticated buyer.

But maybe in this case, the buyer needs that sales pitch not for themselves but for the people who would be angry if they did something financially sensible with future payoff.

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mywittyname 1553 days ago
As much flak as people give "the government" for poor spending, there's actually a huge amount of auditing and checks in place for purchases by officials.

There's no way a decision like this gets made without a several "independent assessments" happening as a CYA move.

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dijonman2 1553 days ago
The administration of the Roslyn school district ripped off tax payers for years. While it was caught it took awhile to discover:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/09/hugh-jackman-mo...

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