Syracuse Sun

Saba Siddiki, professor of public administration and international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is part of a multi-institution research team awarded $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study public bus fleet electrification.

The funding, provided by the NSF’s Smart and Connected Community program, aims to foster a Community-Responsive Electrified and Adaptive Transit Ecosystem to address challenges in planning, operations, and management of public bus fleet electrification.

According to Siddiki and fellow researchers, public bus fleets—including transit and school buses—represent a significant opportunity for transportation electrification with potential improvements in environmental quality and health benefits for impacted communities. However, widespread adoption has been hindered by complex challenges such as range limits, long charging times, expenses, low bus utilization ratios, equipment downtime, an underdeveloped workforce, and diverse stakeholder interests.

The research team seeks to overcome these hurdles through a holistic approach that integrates intelligent technology development with community needs. Their focus will include sustainability and transportation access in their research and solution design.

The project involves developing intelligent tools for effective data-driven decision-making regarding bus electrification. It will also assess collaborative governance in public bus fleet electrification planning and policymaking. Additionally, the project will collaborate with industry and community partners to develop a workforce that supports sustainable future electrified public bus transportation.

“Through these various activities, the project aims to support a scalable, transferable and sustainable path for bus electrification,” says Siddiki.

Siddiki co-authored a paper published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition in August 2023 that presented findings on transportation electrification. The paper examined pathways American cities took to encourage plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption in the late 2010s. It found that PEV advocates streamlined transportation electrification by collaborating across sectors.

This recent work builds on previous projects conducted by Siddiki examining public sector policies encouraging electric vehicle adoption as well as factors informing individual vehicle uptake.

Siddiki holds multiple roles including Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy; director of the master of public administration program; director of the Center for Policy Design and Governance. Her research focuses on policy design, collaborative policymaking, institutional theory analysis, regulatory implementation, and compliance.

“Professor Siddiki’s leadership of the Center for Policy Design and Governance...elevates the visibility...of the research being done...as well as the diverse audiences impacted by...the external funding being prioritized to support evidence-based policy,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke.

The project research team is led by principal investigator Jie Xu of George Mason University. In addition to Siddiki it includes Wenying Ji, Ran Ji, Vivian Motti David Wong Fengxiu Zhang all from George Mason University Jundong Li from University Virginia