Transit seeks to extend zero-emission bus drive

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This article was published 27/11/2023 (727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Transit has asked for an extension on its project to transition to zero-emission buses.

City of Winnipeg staff have now submitted requests to the provincial and federal governments to move the cost-shared project’s total completion date to April 30, 2028 (from July 31, 2027), a Transit report notes.

The $280-million project is expected to replace about 15 per cent of Transit’s diesel-powered fleet with zero-emission models. All three levels of government have signed on to fund it.

While the project is currently on time and on budget, the city is facing inflationary pressures due to delays in receiving funding approval from the feds and the province, according to the report headed to council’s finance committee.

Due to rising prices for green buses and charging/hydrogen fuelling equipment, the number of zero-emission buses the city can buy may be reduced, unless the project’s budget increases, the report notes.

When the funding deal was reached in 2022, Transit expected to buy about 100 environmentally friendly buses by 2027, with the first round of eight battery-electric and eight fuel cell battery-electric models due to arrive in 2024.