Electric buses to hit Newmarket routes next year

Riders can expect smoother, quieter ride, exposure to less fumes and possibly lower fares

Yorkregion.com
August 21, 2019
Teresa Latchford

The wheels of six electric buses are set to hit Newmarket streets early next year.

It is part of a pilot project driven by the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium that will launch in Vancouver in the coming weeks and in Newmarket and Brampton next year.

The aim: To demonstrate to the rest of the world how the transition to electrified, low-carbon emission transit can be accomplished.

In Newmarket, the operation of electrified buses is expected to save money in operational costs due to electric being cheaper to run and maintain over time compared to diesel.

It's also expected to reduce carbon emissions by over 90 per cent compared to those emitted by the current diesel buses.

The reason it isn’t 100 per cent is because there are times the charger pulls from Ontario’s natural gas supply for operation.

The project comes with a price tag of $8 million and is expected to give riders a smoother and quieter experience. There will also be less exposure to diesel fumes for those in the bus and others in the vicinity.

“Newmarket has demonstrated today that it is a global leader in utility-led ownership and operation of high-powered charging systems on behalf of a community transit agency,” CUTRIC CEO Josipa Petrunic said.

“This has never happened in Canada or anywhere in North America and utilities across the continent are watching to see how Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd. has been able to achieve this impressive financial and technical feat in the transit electrification world.”

Ideally, the addition of this new form of transportation would reduce bus fare for riders but at the bare minimum, CUTRIC aims to keep the fares the same.

While the buses and charger cost more upfront, the cost over the 12- to 18-year lifespan will cost less to the transit system since electricity is cheaper than diesel and will begin to create a profit rather than a deficit.

“We didn’t choose Newmarket, Newmarket chose itself,” she said when asked: Why run the project in York Region?

“About four years ago we went across Canada asking if municipalities were interested and a lot of systems said no, it’s too risky and the future is uncertain and the utilities didn’t have a strategy.

"York Region and York Region Transit put up their hands but we want to be global leaders and want to be zero emissions by 2040. Thus it started.”

Newmarket would have been the first in the world to have an interoperable electric bus system up and running if the current provincial government hadn’t pulled cap and trade funding that included the $8 million needed to get the projects off the ground, according to Petrunic.

However, the federal government has stepped up to the plate.

Newmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson announced Natural Resources Canada’s Green Infrastructure Program funding of nearly $957,000 for Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd. to install, operate and maintain one 450 kilowatt overhead bus-charging station.

“Our government continues to support innovative, green infrastructure projects that will create good, middle-class jobs and advance our clean energy future,” Peterson said.

“This project brings us one step closer to a zero-emissions transportation sector and a cleaner community for the people of Newmarket and Aurora.”

This will be the first time a utility (Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd.) has stepped up to own and maintain the charger on behalf of a transit organization.

“This stuff is high-powered electronic equipment and the utility has an army of electricians on staff,” Petrunic said.

“This is a model all utilities around the world will be watching and it’s a model that makes sense.”

Siemens, a global company focused on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization, will provide the charger that will charge the electric buses in five minutes flat.

The buses will drive their route and before they turn around to come back, they will connect to the charger.