City of Edmonton’s electric bus fleet plagued with issues, over half not in service
Global News
When electric buses hit the road in 2020 little did the City of Edmonton know that just a few years later, more than half of them would already be out of service.
The City of Edmonton rolled out an electric bus fleet at the Edmonton Transit Service in 2020, looking for greener solutions when the last fleet aged out.
However, those buses have been plagued with issues and more than half are already out of service. Three years in and it hasn’t been a smooth ride.
“They right away became a problem for our operators,” said ATU 569 president Steve Bradshaw.
The transit union said they faced numerous mechanical issues, battery problems and dealt with missing parts. Many of the drivers couldn’t even get behind the wheel.
“The configuration of the cab is such that it suits people of a sort of average stature, but if you’re small or large it doesn’t suit you at all,” Bradshaw said.
Many of the drivers would ask to be switched off the electric bus shifts and have filed complaints with the Workers Compensation Board, the union said.
The electric vehicles only make up a small percentage of the city’s 1,000-bus fleet, but more than half aren’t on the road.
The city paid more than $1 million for each bus and ordered 60 from U.S.-based manufacturing company Proterra, which built, wrapped and painted them in South Carolina.
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