Feds invest $462K to help Burlington move towards electric buses

A joint financial investment was announced Friday between Burlington and the federal government, and it’s designed to tackle climate change, one bus at a time.

Burlington and the government of Canada announced a plan to spend $462,000 to study the transition to zero emission bus.

The goal is to go all electric and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although, this project will eventually cost millions of dollars, it’s not expected to raise bus fares.

Burlington city councillor Rory Nisan says he and his partner share one car, and use the bus on a regular basis.

He says more and more people in Burlington are using the public transit system.

In 2022, Burlington transit provided 2.2 million rides. For 2023, they are projecting the 2023 annual ridership to be around 2.8 million rides.

Burlington will eventually look different with the edition of electric buses.

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Some roads will need to be widened to accommodate electric vehicle bus lanes, and there may be chargers built along bus routes.

“We’re growing up, we’re going to become more dense, and the bus is going to be a great option for a lot of people in our city moving forward,” said Nisan.

Part of the money for this project is coming from the federal government’s $2.75 billion zero emissions public transit fund.

The transportation sector accounts for 25 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The city of Burlington’s project is being done in partnership with the city of London.

Minister Karina Gould says the goal is to bring down the costs associated with purchasing the buses by buying them at the same time to lower costs.

“We have to make these changes otherwise we are going to see more extreme weather and honestly more dangerous living conditions,” said Gould. “With the cost of living crisis, people want to take the bus.”

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