OC Transpo says it expects to have 30 electric buses in the community by the end of March 2025, an amount that is behind expectations, according to a recent update from staff presented to the city’s Transit Commission.
In OC Transpo’s Zero Emissions Buses Procurement Plan, 26 electric buses were expected by the end of 2024 and another 77 by the end of 2025. There are eight electric buses running in the city.
The program has become increasingly important as the mechanical reliability of OC Transpo’s fleet worsens.
Rami El Feghali, director of Transit Bus Operations, told Transit Commission recently that as the buses age, there’s been “a notable increase in defects and major structural work identified during our maintenance inspections.”
In October 2024, El Feghali told reporters 55 per cent of OC Transpo fleet would be past life expectancy by this past January.
“The added workload drastically impacts our ability to provide the required number of busses, including the ability to put out spare buses to meet consistent service,” said El Feghali.
Fifteen per cent of service disruptions were because of mechanical breakdowns and 20 per cent was because of bus availability in January, according to data presented to the committee.
Daniel Villeneuve, responsible for the electric program, told the committee that in addition to the current eight buses, three more should be in service soon and there are another three in Ottawa. He said other e-buses are in production or waiting for final inspection and delivery.
“The goal is to have all of them,” Daniel Villeneuve told the committee. “But there are four stragglers … so we’re tracking that closely.”
“As you can imagine these buses have thousands of different parts, if there’s a delay of manufactures there’s a delay in busses,” Villeneuve explained.
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney echoed the need for the new buses.
“The concern is really there right now,” Tierney told staff during the meeting. “I don’t see how we’re even going to get 10 on the road by the end of March and that’s just going to keep snowballing.”
Villeneuve replied that he believes that the goal should be attainable.
Tierney also asked staff if they projected any increased costs with potential tariffs from the United States on any parts of the new buses that may delay delivery.
Villeneuve said that staff are watching that issue closely and working with the manufacturers.
The city is also looking to purchase some used diesel buses, but these are proving hard to find, El Feghali said. So, he added, OC Transpo is working with Metrolinx to procure 40 more diesel buses with an estimated delivery time of late 2026 to early 2027.
El Feghali said the service is focussing maintenance efforts on keeping the current buses on the road.
“However these are still mitigations to the problem and the overall solution is replacing these aging buses with upcoming deliveries from the electric ones,” El Feghali told the committee.
Staff announced that OC Transpo will update their website monthly on how many zero emissions buses are operating starting the first week of March, 2025.
Villeneuve told staff the goal is to have 354 electric buses on the road by the end of 2027. According to OC Transpo, there are 738 buses in the fleet.
