New battery-electric buses (BEBs) will start appearing on Pierce Transit routes, the agency has announced today, just in time for the holidays. Six new BEBs will begin service on about a dozen different routes, joining the three BEBs that the agency already has on hand.
“These buses are a continuation of our desire to become carbon neutral as soon as possible,” Pierce Transit’s CEO Mike Griffus said in a statement. “One of our goals as a transit agency is to help combat climate change and we are exploring all initiatives to achieve that goal. A side benefit is to help diversify our fleet in the unlikely event of supply line failures.”
The new BEBs were purchased from Gillig, a major American bus manufacturer, this year using funds made available from the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Air Pollution Control Account (three buses) and Volkswagen Clean Air Act settlement (three buses). All six vehicles are 40-foot low-floor buses and can run about 150 to 170 miles on a single charge. The buses are similar in appearance to other 40-foot Gilligs in the agency fleet, but will feature a special blue electric bus wrap to highlight the greener technology.
Since the new vehicles are similar to other Gilligs already in service, Pierce Transit expects to realize savings in training and maintenance costs. In fact, the BEBs have 30% fewer parts, so that should make a big dent in cost savings.
