Public transit in the Greater Montreal Area is about to get greener.
The Montreal (STM) and Laval (STL) transit agencies are calling their joint purchase of 40 electric buses the biggest electric bus order in Canada.
The slow-charging buses will be built by the Winnipeg-based company New Flyer Industries Canada ULC for a grand total of $43.2 million.
The company started introducing electric buses to the fleet of its home city in 2014, which have since proven to be reliable through the Winnipeg winters.
Testing will begin for the new buses in spring 2019, with delivery expected in 2020.
The choice to use slow-charging vehicles over quick-charging ones comes after a study by both transit agencies and the Association du transport urbain du Québec (ATUQ).
Slow-charging buses require fewer modifications to infrastructure and offer numerous economic savings over their quick-charging counterparts. They are, however, more suited for shorter routes.
The STL will receive 10 of the electric buses, a first for the network. The transit agency plans to make the full switch and exclusively buy electric buses as of 2023.
The STM will get the other 30, adding to the four quick-charging buses currently running on the 10-kilometre Monk line (36). The agency will use the new buses across various routes, in hopes of meeting its 2025 goal of going completely electric.