Councillor seeks to get city on board for more green buses

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This article was published 14/04/2021 (1354 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A city councillor wants to speed up Winnipeg’s plan to buy zero-emission buses.

Coun. Matt Allard, council’s public works chairman, will raise a motion to add about 20 to 24 zero-emission buses, plus supporting infrastructure to house and operate them, to a Winnipeg Transit master plan funding request.

“Both the provincial and the federal government have expressed interest in zero-emission buses and they’re also popular with the public,” said Allard (St. Boniface). “And this… would be good for our climate goals.”

The motion aims to add about $49.8 million for the green buses and supporting infrastructure, within a broader $539-million funding request through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. If approved, an agreement would provide funding from the city, province and feds.

If given final approval by council, Allard’s change would raise the green bus funding portion of the request from $280.4 million to $330.2 million.

Allard is calling for the city to remove four projects from its federal infrastructure application to make room for more green buses. He suggested the city seek 2022 budget funds to pay for: a bus radio and intelligent transportation system replacement; a rapid transit downtown corridors preliminary design; a primary transit network infrastructure project; and a wheelchair securements retro-fit.

Those projects have a combined cost of $58.4 million, of which $49.8 million was eligible for federal infrastructure funds.

The city previously announced a goal to replace 100 to 110 diesel buses with zero-emission models by the end of 2027, which the original $280.4-million request would fund. Transit aims to replace the entire 700-bus fleet by 2047.

Allard says the city should speed that up now to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at the lowest potential cost for Winnipeg.

“Both the province and the federal government have indicated their desire to move on zero-emission buses and this is a way that I think we can capitalize on (federal) funding and get our application in as quickly as possible,” he said.

Allard’s motion will be debated at Friday’s public works committee meeting.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga