By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

City council approves application for new electric buses

Nov 2, 2018 | 9:13 AM

LETHBRIDGE – Applications from the city’s transit managers for at least seven new, electric buses will be submitted to the Provincial Government, after council unanimously approved the department’s request to apply for grant funding.

At Monday’s meeting, Transit Manager Kevin Ponech and Operations Manager Scott Grieco told council that while the purchase of current transit buses is covered by GreenTRIP funding that will end in 2020. A new $215 million fund called the Alberta Community Transit Fund has been set up instead, which does not cover diesel fueled buses.

Currently, the city has 43 low-floor buses and 11 more will be funded through GreenTRIP though 2019 and 2020 to replace aging vehicles.

Transit managers say they looked at applying for hydrogen-based buses, however their maintenance costs and the infrastructure necessary to maintain them may be cost prohibitive.

Electric buses, while more expensive to purchase than diesel buses, require less infrastructure to maintain and save more fuel, saving the city about $31,000 per bus, per year. But their life expectancy is about 12 years; three years less than diesel buses.

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“We had the opportunity to ride one of these (electric) buses in St. Albert. The buses itself, they’re about $800,000 which is about $200,000 more than a conventional diesel bus. St. Albert’s experiencing 56 cents per kilometre in over maintenance and fuel cost reduction so it’s a very viable option for us to entertain electric buses,” said Grieco.

The electric buses come with their own charging stations and a charge will last approximately 7.5 to 10 hours, with a three-hour charge time. They are also extremely quiet, something councillor Jeff Carlson addressed.

“Some electric cars have had to install actual noise makers on them because they are so silent. They can be quite dangerous for folks who have their headphones on or just aren’t paying attention. Do (the buses) make any noise?”

“I haven’t looked into that,” said Grieco. “But I have heard feedback that the buses are so quiet that there’s a possibility of the avenue of looking at ensuring public safety if they are indeed that quiet.”

Applications will be submitted before Dec. 31, 2018. Additional applications will also be made for devices on the buses like solar panels, that can be used for capturing and storing energy, lessening the reliance on the electrical grid. Around $1 million more in funding would be needed to purchase the panels.

If money for the buses is approved through Alberta Community Transit (ACT) Fund, another application will be submitted to the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) and to the federal Gas Tax Fund. The city is already eligible for $13.1 million from the ICIP based on local ridership numbers, however, that money has been earmarked for other uses.

If the money comes through from the ACT fund, it would cover 50 per cent of the total cost. Another application would be made to the ICIP for an additional 40 per cent of the cost, while the last 10 per cent could come from the Gas Tax Fund.

Council agreed that the application for the buses could go ahead, however if the city didn’t get the grants to cover the full cost of the buses, then support for their purchase could be pulled.

If the grants are approved, the buses wouldn’t become part of the fleet until sometime after 2020.