Bus operators unable to bid for Canterbury contracts with only electric vehicles

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Red Bus already uses electric buses to service the bus route from central Christchurch to the airport. (File photo)

A regional council lauded for declaring a climate emergency is not accepting proposals from bus operators who only want to use electric vehicles (EVs).

A transport expert has criticised the decision, saying it makes no sense to force companies that only want to operate EVs to also submit a proposal using diesel powered buses. Environment Canterbury (ECan) says the tender process doesn't rule out EVs, and it is focused on the best way of getting more people to use public transport.

ECan had been seeking tenders to run bus services in the greater Christchurch area, including routes such as the Orbiter, Blue Line and Orange Line. Applications closed on Monday, with contracts due to start next November.

As part of the tender process, applicants had to submit three proposals: one with diesel powered vehicles, an alternative using all EVs, and another showing a transition to low-emissions vehicles. A regional public transport plan requires all vehicles bought after 2025 to be low emission.

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Josep Bonos, head of electric cars at Seat, talks us through the EV basics. (Video first published in October 2019)

On the Government tender website, an applicant said they wanted to tender only with EVs. They were told they could not without also putting in a proposal involving diesel vehicles.

University of Canterbury geography professor Simon Kingham, chief science adviser to the Ministry of Transport, said excluding an EV-only bid did not make sense and the tender process should have been less restrictive.

'I think what they're trying to do is demonstrate the difference in cost. But insisting on all tenderers putting in a diesel one to demonstrate that seems a bit unfortunate,' he said.

ECan public transport senior manager Stewart Gibbon said the cost of an electric bus was nearly twice as much as an equivalent low-emission diesel vehicle, there would be a significant cost for charging infrastructure, and electric buses did not currently have the range to run many of the longer trips, so more vehicles would be needed.

'Based on our assessment we've been looking at for EVs, it's very unlikely that we would be able to do an all EV solution at the moment.'

An EV-only tender was not compliant because ECan had specifically asked for the three proposals, Gibbon said. It needed this information to understand the best, most practical way of reducing emissions.

Getting solo drivers out of their cars and encouraging them to take public transport, walk or cycle was the best way of reducing transport emissions. The Regional Public Transport Plan noted public transport needed to be more convenient, competitive, frequent and reliable. This meant having more buses, Gibbon said.

Considering the best use of funds, he said it might be best to progressively add zero-emission vehicles, while still balancing the need to invest in more buses overall to make public transport attractive and carry more people.