Canada is moving relatively quickly with electric buses as British Columbia is “set to grow its electric bus fleet by 115 vehicles thanks to a combined investment of nearly $400 million from the provincial and federal governments” and Quebec, with help from the federal government is making a significant purchase of electric buses.
Most of these purchases are part of larger legislation packages, such as the Quebec Green Economy Plan in which “55 percent of city buses must be electric by 2030. It also requires all new bus purchases by a public transit agency funded by the Quebec government must be zero-emission buses from 2025 onwards.”
Unfortunately, sometimes these policy changes provide money for initial purchases but little stable funding for ongoing expenses like building the necessary infrastructure to charge electric buses and making any bus system - electric or not - “more frequent, more reliable and more timely”. Study after study has shown that these service characteristics are what convince more people to get out of their cars and take transit which is the best way to reduce emissions.
What could you do to encourage electrification of the bus fleet (or part of the fleet) in your town or region? What changes to transit in your town - whether electrified or not - might make it a more desirable option than using a private car at least for some trips?