Guelph receives $74.7 million for electric bus projects

Funds going toward new transit hub, plus some vehicles to fill it

GUELPH — Millions of dollars are coming Guelph’s way for a number of transit projects.

At an event Thursday at the Guelph Transit hub, the federal and provincial governments announced they would be contributing a combined $74.7 million toward three projects aimed at electrifying the city’s bus fleet.

With this funding, the city is planning to replace 35 of its diesel-powered buses with electric ones, buy another 30 electric buses over the next eight years, and build a bus storage facility that will include charging stations for those new vehicles.

It will be up to the city to come up with the remaining $104 million to fund these initiatives.

Catherine McKenna, the federal infrastructure and communities minister, said the new buses would be part of Ottawa’s initiative to have 5,000 of the country’s public buses powered by electricity, rather than fossil fuels, in an effort to fight climate change.

“Communities across Canada need access to modern, green public transit infrastructure. It’s essential to building a healthy, sustainable future,” McKenna said in a news release announcing the funding.

As for when the new buses will be in Guelph, Mayor Cam Guthrie said the city plans to start the procurement process soon.

Guelph Transit will be joining other transit agencies that have announced the move toward electric buses.

In July, B.C. Transit announced it would be replacing its 1,200 buses, and adding another 350, with electric models by 2040. Edmonton Transit Service is expected to receive 40 electric buses by May, entering into full service by the summer.

The new storage facility would be part of the consolidated operations hub, first announced last year.

According to a staff report at the time, it was expected the new transit operations hub would cost $86.8 million.

With this new funding, the upper levels of government will be covering $34.67 million of that.

In October, council voted in favour of starting the early planning and design work for the hub, with a business case to come back to council for another vote.

These three projects were part of a package of transit initiatives nominated for funding in August.