New Jersey’s mass transit agency, NJ Transit, approved a $9.5 million purchase of eight electric buses Wednesday to be deployed in a South Jersey environmental justice area as part of the agency’s effort to convert its fleet of more than 3,000 buses to zero-emission by 2040.
The first of the 40-foot buses, made by Canadian manufacturer New Flyer of America, are expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2022, with subsequent arrivals spread out over a year. They will serve routes out of the Newton Avenue Bus Garage in Camden. The garage is undergoing an extensive renovation for use as a pilot project for electric buses to evaluate the performance, operating range, reliability and other factors of the buses.
The purchase contract includes an option to purchase another 75 buses, according to a statement from the agency.
Cedrick Fulton, vice chairman of the NJ Transit board of directors, called the purchase a “historic action.”
“This is just the start of a next-generation bus network that will be greener, more sustainable and more equitable,” he said.
Legislation signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in January 2020 requires zero-emissions buses to account for 10% of any new fleet purchases by NJ Transit after December 2024 and all new buses purchased by the agency to be electric by 2032. The agency in May put out a request for proposals to convert all its garages to zero-emission.
Environmental groups such as Environment New Jersey, as well as New Jersey Policy Perspective, a Trenton-based think tank, have encouraged the state to accelerate the introduction of electric buses, citing the environmental and health benefits reaped from the move. (See Environmentalists Call for Faster Transition to Electric Buses in NJ.)
Hayley Berliner, clean energy advocate for Environment New Jersey, told the NJ Transit board during its meeting Wednesday that the agency will find it hard to meet its zero-emission bus goals without significant state and federal funding. She called for the state to create a “dedicated source of funding” for the agency’s bus program.
The Federal Transit Administration in June awarded NJ Transit $5.15 million for the purchase of four zero-emission, 60-foot articulated buses to serve the agency’s Hilton garage in North Jersey, with routes into Newark, another environmental justice area. The garage is also slated to be converted soon to serve electric buses, and the agency also is planning to buy another eight 40-foot electric buses for use there, according to a presentation prepared for Wednesday’s meeting.