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Delays in its plan to go all-electric is putting OC Transpo in a bind as its fleet of diesel buses ages out with no hope of getting new e-buses to replace them in time.
About 55 per cent of OC Transpo’s bus fleet will be past its 15-year life expectancy by January 2025, director of bus operations and maintenance Rami El Feghali told reporters after Thursday’s transit commission meeting.
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“That adds more pressure in terms of additional maintenance. It makes it harder to find the right parts and assure our maintenance meets (Ministry of Transportation) requirements,” El Feghali said.
OC Transpo had expected to have more than 70 e-buses on the road this year, but production delays, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have put that plan way behind schedule. There are only four e-buses in the fleet. Thirteen new New Flyer e-buses are in production, with the first due to arrive at the end of October, but 16 more buses expected this year won’t be ready until early 2025.
A final group of 29 New Flyer e-buses will be delivered by the end of next year. OC Transpo is also buying 48 buses from manufacturer Nova for delivery by the end of 2025.
In all, OC Transpo expects to have 350 e-buses in operation by the end of 2027, although the production shortages have forced it to opt for shorter 40-foot buses instead of the higher-capacity 60-foot buses.
About 60 per cent of the current fleet are high-capacity buses, including the articulated diesel buses.
While it waits for the electric buses, OC Transpo has three options to sustain its diesel fleet. Buying new buses is one, but, with only one company still making diesel articulated buses, they wouldn’t be delivered for two more years. OC Transpo has also looked into buying used buses or spending money to keep its old buses in service.
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With ridership rebounding with the arrival of university students for fall classes and the return to office by public servants, this is a terrible time to face a bus shortage, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said.
“It terrifies me to think, especially as ridership appears to be coming back, that we’d have any prolonged period of capacity issues,” Leiper said.
To that end, Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill asked OC Transpo to report back to the commission in early 2025 about the feasibility of buying new high-capacity diesel buses to tide the city over until the e-buses are delivered.
Transit General Manager Renée Amilcar said OC Transpo would come back to the councillors with a recommendation for what to do.
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