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METLINK
From left to right, Brendan Prince NZ bus; Cr Daran Ponter Chair, Greater Wellington; Cr Roger Blakeley, Greater Wellington; Cr David Lee, Greater Wellington; Keven Snelgrove, Tranzit; James Howard, Tranzit, announces the purchase of 98 new electric buses in June.
Wellington’s public transport is getting greener, and the capital’s bus fleet will be fully electric in seven years.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council stated Thursday that it would not consider offers from any bus company operating diesel vehicles when current contracts expire in 2027.
The announcement comes just one day after the government declared a climate emergency and promised that government agencies would have to reduce the number of vehicles in their fleets and that electric and hybrid vehicles were preferred over new vehicles.
The Wellington Regional Council is not a central government agency, so it is not required to make changes under the new rules, but made the decision independently.
“This is a pretty bold move,” said Greater Wellington Transportation Committee Chairman Roger Blakeley. “It would put Wellington among the most progressive cities in the world in terms of public transport. Not many places outside of China have moved that fast. “
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Talk Wellington’s Isabella Cawthorn said that decarbonizing public transportation had “a million senses.”
Road transport accounts for 54% of Wellington’s carbon emissions, and public transport was a key area in setting direction in that space.
Wellington had its trains electrified in the 1970s, but we have lagged behind ever since. It’s great to see Wellington catch up to 21st century standards again, ”said Cawthorn.
The council had long held a goal of adopting more electric buses in the next decade, but now has a much tougher line. The compromise was part of the Wellington Regional Public Transportation Plan 2021-31, which the council approved Thursday.
It would mean a total of 665 electric buses in the Wellington region in seven years. A purchase of 98 new buses in June brought the number of electric buses currently in operation to a total of 108, representing 22 percent of the fleet.
Blakeley was confident that private bus operators could adopt an all-electric fleet by 2027. Electric bus prices had dropped considerably in recent years and had much lower operating and maintenance costs.
Ross Giblin
Metlink currently has 108 electric buses in its fleet, but it will expand to 663 in 2027.
There are four private companies that are contracted to run Metlink’s services, the largest being Tranzurban, which operates 60% of the network.
A spokesperson said the company was fully supportive of electric buses and recently received government funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to convert two double-decker diesel buses into electric motors.
If it works, the company could convert up to 40 more buses using the same system.
China is the world leader in electric buses, with more than 400,000 electric buses, about 99 percent of the world’s total, operating in the country of 1.4 billion people.
Other countries have lagged considerably, including the United States, which in 2019 was estimated to have only 650 electric buses, less than the total number projected for Wellington under the new policy.
Abigail Dougherty
Auckland Transport launched an electric bus on the city’s internal link this year.
Adopting a 100% electric bus fleet would reduce Wellington’s carbon emissions by 13,200 tonnes per year.
Wellington is planning a major increase in the use of public transport and a significant decrease in emissions over the next 10 years.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tabled a motion to declare a climate emergency in Parliament’s debating hall.
At the same meeting on Thursday, the regional council also unveiled Wellington’s Regional Public Transportation Plan for the next decade.
It included plans to purchase new, higher capacity trains for the North Island Palmerston North and Masterton rail lines, including investigating the option of battery electric trains.
The plan projects that at least 40% of Wellington residents will travel by public transport or active transportation (walking and biking) by 2030, up from 31% today.
Wellington’s 57 electric trolleybuses were retired in 2017. Initial plans were to retrofit the buses with new engines, but then they failed. The now-missing buses went up for sale on TradeMe earlier this year.
