City moves forward on plan to spend $100M on e-bus transition

Calgary is moving forwardinnegotiating a nearly $500-million arrangementwith the federal government that would help the cityreplace some of its diesel bus fleetwith up to 259zero-emission electric transit buses.

The council's executive committee voted 7-1 on Wednesday to support a proposed finance arrangement in which the city would put up $100 million to secure as much as $391 million in federal financing.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the $491-million arrangement would allow Calgary Transit to replace some of its diesel buses as they reach the end of their usefulness.

Along with lowering greenhouse gas emissions, the electric buses are expected to help the city save on operating costs in the long run.

Coun. Dan McLean was the only committee member to vote against the financing plan, explaining that he would have liked to haveseen more data on how other cities implemented electric buses and what problems they faced.

"I'd rather wait until the second model and the imperfections are worked out," he said. "That's the only reason I voted against it. I'd rather see a pilot and more information first before we spend a whole bunch of taxpayers' money."

Next week, council will discuss the proposed deal. If approved, the plan would move forwardand construction on the electric buses would be slated for October 2023.

Under the city's plan, the first electric bus would roll out in December2025, and rest of the fleet would hit the streetsthe following year.

When all of the 259 electric buses are in service, greenhouse gas emissions in the city could be reduced by 13,000 tonnes per year, city administrators said.