Some extra funding for transportation could mean electric buses in the near future for Thunder Bay.
This came as council approved federal and provincial funding for infrastructure projects.
The concept was brought up by At Large Councillor Rebecca Johnson, who questioned the current state of the electric bus rollout in the city. “Why are we not thinking about electronic? I mean, here’s an opportunity with this extra funding we’re getting to do something creative and different.”
General Manager of Community Services Kelly Robertson replied, stating the program is still in the early stages.
“The team is just starting to explore an electrification strategy. At the time that we submitted this application, which was back in 2019, the team did not recommend electrification at that time based on benchmarking neighbouring municipalities here in the north and the northern US, and some of the issues they were having at that time with the electrification of vehicles and concerns about our climate.” said Robertson.
Current River Ward Councillor Andrew Foulds quickly shot down the idea of Thunder Bay’s climate factoring into the setback of the electric bus rollout. He cited other municipalities with similar climates, including Edmonton, which has 21 electric buses, have been able to successfully integrate the green transportation method into their cities.
“We are totally missing the bus, we are totally missing it, and this is really disappointing to hear that we’re years away from electrifying our fleet. It is one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in our community. We could be a leader.”
It was also stressed the buses themselves would not be the only cost, as charging stations can come with a significant price tag as well.
