Moncton City Council has agreed to study the feasibility of transitioning from diesel-powered buses to electric buses.
The cost of the study is $172,500 but the good news is the federal government is willing to pay 80 percent of the total.
Newly elected deputy mayor Brian Butler told city staff he and a couple other councillors did some research and found insurance can be an issue.
“Fantastic savings… and great for the environment. But the risk is that very expensive if you are in an accident. The insurance is really high on electric vehicles all over Canada, especially buses,” he noted and felt that component should be part of the study.
City manager Marc Landry said the information is valuable to know.
“It’s great that some communities have already been rolling out electric buses. So we’ll bring some of those lessons learned to Moncton.”
The non-profit consortium CUTRIC (Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium) will be conducting the study and have done similar ones for some larger cities.
A city staff report noted the study is intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of operational impacts, infrastructure requirements and financial planning models to inform future implementation plans.
The study will take at least 30 weeks to complete and includes consultation with the Town of Riverview and the City of Dieppe.