A feasibility study to scope the decarbonisation of the urban and regional bus fleet in the Bay of Plenty has been approved.
The local and urban fleet is made up of 166 buses, five of which are electric.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Public Transport Committee chairman Andrew von Dadelszen says decarbonising the fleet is in line with recent government requirements and also aligns with the Regional Council's climate change goals for the region.
'Late last year the government mandated that from 2025 onwards new buses will have to be zero emission, with the entire bus fleet in New Zealand to be zero emissions by 2035,” von Dadelszen says.
'Depending on the feasibility study conclusions, Regional Council will need to decide whether to adopt a policy where all new contracts are operated with decarbonised buses starting in 2024. This, however will not preclude our Regional Council from consider including decarbonised buses within the current term of contracts.”
The government has committed $50 million to help councils across the country meet the new goals on time.
von Dadelszen says when it comes to the feasibility study the first priority will be looking at the technology options and deciding which ones to pursue.
'We are very motivated to decarbonise the fleet, it would be a win-win for our rohe. Once a shortlist of decarbonised options has been established, the feasibility study will then use existing information to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the pros and cons of each,” he says.
He says at this early stage it's not possible to accurately forecast the potential financial implications of any decision to decarbonise the entire bus fleet.
10 comments
Millions for no bus usage
Posted on 19-03-2021 10:22 | By an_alias
A much better question would be how much are these buses actually used period ! I see mostly ZERO to ONE person per bus 99% of the time. What an absolute waste of money.
Virtue signalling for no gain
Posted on 19-03-2021 10:28 | By Let's get real
Halve it overnight by having an off-peak fleet of small hybrid vehicles that don't require a class 2 licence. The stupidity of these virtue signalling moves is that as a nation, we contribute less than a quarter of one percent of harmful emissions and the government would have you believing that most of that comes from our status as a nation sized farm. Our climate is influenced by other nations and we're playing childish games to make our politicians look good internationally.
Pull their heads out
Posted on 19-03-2021 10:39 | By Johnney
When are they going to pull their heads out of the sand. So much spin I am getting giddy. If this was private enterprise they would of been bankrupted a long time ago. Halve the bus fleet, halve the size of buses and develop from there. This transport fiasco is a joke operated by numpties who haven’t got a clue how to run a bus service.
Decarbonising isn't possible
Posted on 19-03-2021 11:25 | By Avman
It's amazing how little the Regional Council knows about the world we live in. If we "decarbonise" buses, then they won't be allowed to have any driver or passengers, because people are made of carbon. And the buses can't be made of steel, or have rubber tyres, or seats and linings made of polyester, no rubber floor mats, and no engines or batteries to power the buses, because carbon is used to make those too. If you "decarbonise" buses, you are left with nothing at all, just thin air, which also has carbon in it.
@johnney
Posted on 19-03-2021 11:26 | By Let's get real
The management of our local bus fleet is so amateurish and of such a poor quality that it's absolutely no wonder they are losing staff at an alarming rate. I understand that decision making for the Tauranga fleet comes from Auckland.
Sell 161 buses...
Posted on 19-03-2021 13:36 | By morepork
...and replace them with smaller electric/hybrid buses. Decarbonizing, is technically dubious and just spends more good money after bad. The bad decision was buying these buses in the first place.
Give us the true figures
Posted on 19-03-2021 19:48 | By First Responder
How many people actually use these buses? Give us the real truth. I see numerous buses pass through Ohauiti, with only up to one or two passengers. Get rid of them. We don't want them. We don't need them. We don't use them. If you need a fare, get an uber. These buses are wreaking the roads, they are oversized. I challenge the council to openly tell us, what capacity these buses actually run at. I bet it's below 10%. Can someone give us the truth. Sunlive, please bring us the facts.
Nonsense
Posted on 19-03-2021 20:05 | By Kancho
Our contribution to climate change is miniscule globally. Millions spent on a greenie agenda. Seriously if this is really a priority of all the problems we have then we really have a leadership crisis.
@First responder
Posted on 20-03-2021 08:56 | By Let's get real
We will never get the true figures, for two reasons.... Commercial sensitivity and more importantly, by far the highest number of users are subsidised by third parties. School students are free, but paid for by regional Council. Over 65's are free between certain hours, but are paid for by taxpayers. Take just those two groups out of the equation and you might need to take your shoes and socks off to add up the number of off-peak travellers.
Cities need buses
Posted on 21-03-2021 18:31 | By Kancho
Not everyone has a car or the money for taxis. But is it really going to make much difference on climate change NOPE. just playing green and ridiculous cost
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