Transportation: MCTS Still Not Using All Its Electric Buses

From the Article:

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is only running roughly half of the battery electric buses (BEBs) it purchased for the new bus rapid transit (BRT) service.

After a recall of the buses in August by the manufacturer, NovaBus, the transit system is still only operating five of them daily, according to David Locher, enhanced transit manager for MCTS. Ideally, there would be nine running every day, he told the Milwaukee Common Council‘s Public Works Committee on Jan. 24.

The transit system ordered 11 BEBs from NovaBus, a Canadian subsidiary of Volvo Group, to operate on the Connect 1, a new nine-mile bus rapid transit service running east and west between Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. The BRT service is the first of its kind for MCTS. The service cost $55 million to develop and employs dedicated bus lanes, elevated bus stations and transit technologies like off-bus fare collection and BEBs. Currently, however, the majority of buses operating on Connect 1 are clean-diesel buses like those being operated throughout the system.

MCTS also ordered 4 BEBs to operate on other fixed-bus routes as a pilot for a broader electrification of the fleet. Shortly after the Connect 1 launched, the company announced it was exiting the U.S. manufacturing market, with plans to close its manufacturing and delivery facility in Plattsburgh, New York by 2025.

So far, MCTS has received 11 BEBs from NovaBus. Delivery of the remaining four buses is expected this year.

On June 1, MCTS launched Connect 1. Before the month was over, the MCTS needed to replace a battery unit on one of the BEBs. On Aug. 24, all of the transit system’s BEBs were pulled from the road for a full recall and replacement of the batteries by NovaBus. During the recall, nine buses were sent away and all have returned with new batteries.