The MTA has begun ordering new e-buses in an effort to make its collection of buses fully digital by 2040.
Currently, the MTA’s 15 electric buses that are in service are 60-footers operating out of the Michael J. Quill bus depot in west Midtown. Sixty-foot articulated buses are the primary model for the MTA’s express select bus service routes, including those that run on major crosstown Manhattan streets.
However, agency officials at the MTA have expressed concerns about going fully electric with their bus technology as they aren’t sure if the NYC streets are prepared for them yet.
NYC Transit President, Rich Davey, told the MTA board last week that “The market doesn’t quite yet have what we believe is a reliable electric 60-foot bus… There are a couple out there, but we’re not feeling quite confident enough yet to invest in those.”
Despite these serious doubts, another 18 electric buses are included in a $286 million order of the 205 battery-powered buses approved by the MTA board last week. The articulated buses will cost them about $2.1 million apiece, although a bulk of the purchase consists of 187 40-feet electric buses for local service, which are about $1.3 million apiece.
All these buses will be built by the manufacturer New Flyer, whose contract with the MTA also includes spare parts, tools, and training to maintain the battery-powered buses. The contract gives the MTA the option to buy about 1,215 additional e-buses when more funding is available to them.
New Flyer is projected to deliver an earlier, separate order of 60 40-foot e-buses in Fall 2024, and this purchase was approved by the MTA board back in 2021. Buses from this order are expected to enter service in bus depots on Staten Island, the Kingsbridge depot in upper Manhattan, the Grand Ave. depot in Queens, and the East New York depot in Brooklyn.
All the e-buses in the New Flyer contract are equivalent to around 4% of the MTA’s 5,800 buses in service.
Also, since the transit system’s aging diesel articulated buses are suspected to be due for replacement, MTA officials reported this Wednesday that they voted to approve the purchase of 245 diesel-powered 60-footers from New Flyer for around $292 million- and about $1.2 million apiece.
These new diesel buses are said to replace the articulated buses currently past their 12-year service life span.
The new influx of these diesel buses seems to signal that it will be a while before e-buses become a common sight in NYC streets.
