Halifax Transit welcomes first electric bus, with more to follow

Halifax Transit’s first electric bus arrived last Tuesday, with plans for 200 buses to follow by the end of 2024.

This is part of Halifax Transit’s Zero Emission Bus Project, which also includes expanding the Ragged Lake Transit Centre and a rebuild of the Burnside Transit Centre, expected to be completed by 2028.

Some advocates have been concerned that Halifax Transit is not addressing concerns about bus overcrowding.

“I don’t mind the approach (Halifax Transit), being sort of a slow roll-out and ensuring that we have the charging infrastructure for those buses before we roll them out across the entire fleet,” said Evan Trenholm, a member of Halifax-based transit advocacy group It’s More than Buses.

“We need to make sure we have larger buses in our network so that we can meet the overcrowding needs of our current system.”

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The electric buses will be the same size (40 feet) and hold the same number of passengers as Halifax Transit’s current diesel hybrid buses.

A spokesperson for Nova Bus says their current catalogue does not have larger articulating buses.

“There’s a growing demand as we exit the COVID years of this type of bus. We are definitely listening to the market we’re definitely asking our customers what their plans are for these articulating buses,” Christos Kritsidimas said.

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Kritsidimas says Nova Bus has been providing Halifax with diesel buses on and off for around 15 years. He says riders won’t find that many differences on the bus besides less noise.

“There’ll be a lot of commonalities to the bus, which is important when you have any change management, any new technology — we like to keep that change to the least minimum possible,” Kritsidimas said.

Experts say this is a game-changer and that other cities in Atlantic Canada should follow suit.

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“They already have Nova Bus products, they’re already familiar with their company and their operations and their supply chain,” said Johnny Beckett, who is on the board of directors for the Electric Vehicle Association of Canada. “This is what so heavily contrasts with the case in Edmonton that we’re hearing about as well.”

Saint John, N.B., has launched an electric bus pilot program and Moncton is studying electric buses for its fleet. New Brunswick is also operating dozens of electric school buses.

Beckett said Halifax Transit is not just investing in buses and “a couple of chargers here and there,” but instead it’s rebuilding facilities to meet the goal of net zero.