Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday held a ceremonial signing of a $16 billion transportation bond bill that allocates funding for modernizing the state’s transportation system, including the electrification of buses.
“The Transportation Bond Bill builds upon our administration’s ongoing commitment to create a 21st-century mobility infrastructure that will prepare the commonwealth to capitalize on emerging changes in transportation technology and behavior,” Baker said.
The legislation includes roughly $5.1 billion to continue modernizing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and $50 million for the Complete Streets program to build streets that encourage more walking and biking.
“The MBTA is pleased that the legislature and the governor included funds within the recently enacted transportation bond bill for vehicle electrification,” a spokesperson for the agency said in an email statement. At a January board meeting, the authority presented a bus transformation program that calls for funding to provide battery-electric buses (BEBs) in North Cambridge and Quincy by 2024, if the infrastructure can support it.
Currently, there is a BEB pilot project active on Silver Lane in Boston. A new $370 million bus maintenance facility in Quincy is designed to accommodate 120 BEBs when it opens in 2024, with room to grow to accommodate future demand.
MBTA estimates it will cost about $4.5 million to build new bus maintenance facilities needed to electrify the bus system. It will cost about $100 million to $130 million to purchase 80 to 100 BEBs to replace diesel buses.
To achieve climate goals, MBTA said a new electrified maintenance facility will be needed every two to three years. The agency also predicts that it will need to budget and plan for the purchase of solely electric buses, instead of the hybrid ones currently in use, at least 14 years before complete electrification.
Systemwide charging infrastructure will also be needed to support the BEB operations, but MBTA did not give a cost estimate for those facilities.
The MBTA plans to purchase the BEBs for North Cambridge and Quincy next winter. Two new grant programs allow construction of designated bus lanes so that buses are not caught idling in traffic in places where homes are only a few feet from the thoroughfares.