City gets $10.8m boost for electric bus depot in Lyall Bay
To help accelerate the decarbonisation of our bus fleet, Greater Wellington will receive $10.8 million from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s contestable Climate Emergency Response Fund (Cerf) programme.
The $10.8m means a new depot with charging infrastructure to support Wellington’s growing fleet of electric buses is a step closer. Currently, the bus depots are privately owned by operators who provide bus services for Metlink on fixed-term contracts.
Land is scarce in Wellington, and to sustain and grow our electric bus services, we’ve secured a site for a depot in Lyall Bay where operators who win Metlink contracts could charge their buses.
Our plans for this depot are part of a wider move towards public ownership and control of strategic public transport assets. We are keen to engage with mana whenua on this, and communities can have their say through consultation for next year’s Long Term Plan.
A recent Greater Wellington Regional Council study showed electric buses have improved Wellington’s inner-city air quality, and wearing my two hats as chair of both the Environment Committee and Climate committee is heartening given the resulting beneficial impact for our climate, as well as public health.
More than 20 per cent of Metlink buses are now electric, and we’re on track to having an emissions-free fleet. Another depot with critical electricity infrastructure to support
Wellington city bus services will give our operators the confidence to continue to invest in electric buses.
The study by Greater Wellington’s environmental science team showed the positive impact Metlink’s EV buses are having on Wellington’s air quality along the Golden Mile, leading to positive health benefits and climate change mitigation.
The annual report on the environmental impacts of Metlink’s bus fleet emissions across 2021/22 outlines results from air monitoring and bus emissions tracking tools up to June 30, 2022 and reports on monthly emissions and annual air quality performance indicators.
The report showed greenhouse gases and air pollution from Metlink’s public bus network have trended down since September 2021 as the proportion of kilometres travelled by electric buses increased relative to diesel services.
An increase in the proportion of electric buses travelling on Manners St, for example, was associated with reductions in pollutants. Diesel particulate air pollution reduced by 28 per cent and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by 18 per cent. Nitrogen dioxide causes respiratory and cardiovascular damage — making people more prone to infections and diseases such as asthma.