North America's first electric bus of its kind key to Saint John Transit's major overhaul

North America’s first electric, low entrance, 20-foot transit bus took an inaugural spin around Saint John, N.B., Monday.

The Karsan e-JEST mini-bus will play a key role in Saint John Transit’s incoming on-demand service and jumpstart the city’s goal of having a fully electric public transportation fleet by 2040.

The city is leasing six electric buses for $4,566 a month, per bus, on a 12 to 18-month lease.

Roger D’Hollander of Damera Bus Corp., an Ontario-based bus supplier, says these types of electric mini-buses are already popular in Europe, with about 500 on the road throughout Germany, France, Italy, and Romania.

“We’re anticipating having a bus like this in a majority of transit agencies, frankly across North America,” says D’Hollander, acknowledging it may take time for some municipalities to fully get on board.

“There’s some trepidation, like there is with any change or major transformation that we’re going through. So, they’re waiting to see,” says D’Hollander. “They’re all getting into pilot programs, small numbers of buses initially, understanding how they operate, understanding how they operate in their environment, with their routes and their distances, and so on.”

SAINT JOHN TRANSIT'S ON-DEMAND SERVICE

The Karsan e-JEST buses, which can each fit up to 22 people, will be central to Saint John Transit’s on-demand pilot project starting in September.

The service will rely on smaller buses picking up passengers on low-use routes and will only run stop-to-stop if a customer request is made. About 20 other Canadian municipalities have a similar on-demand service already in place.

The city says requests for the on-demand service will be made by passengers through a web app or by calling a dispatcher.

@ctvmoore This has been stuck in my head all day long (and should certainly be brought back to the airwaves). The lyrics may need to be changed to ‘20 feet long.’ Dan Maloney was a genius. #saintjohntransit #newbrunswick #publictransit #maritimes #ctvatlantic #electricvehicle #ivegotalimothats40feetlong ♬ original sound - ctvmoore

“I think this bus plays perfectly to some of our urban, small street, small ridership areas,” said Ian Fogan, Saint John’s municipal transit and fleet manager. “But it also plays well to some of our suburban neighbourhoods where there may not be a lot of ridership, and it will be a quiet operation where it’s hard to get a 40-foot bus down a suburban street.”

D’Hollander says there’s a practical and environmental benefit to curbing large buses travelling through suburban areas with only one or two people on board.

“We call those the air buses, they’re moving air from the suburbs to the cities,” says D’Hollander, calling the smaller buses more appropriate for such routes. “They really set in that environment very well, so if they were to replace one of those 40-foot buses, it’s saving about 80,000 kilograms of CO2 per year.”

The addition of electric vehicles is one prong to Saint John’s larger plan to transform public transit this fall.

The city is launching “rapid lines” on popular fixed transit routes by Sept. 4. The goal is to have buses out earlier and longer, with a 20-minute frequency, on routes used by 75 per cent of current users.

The city is also planning to introduce an electronic fare payment option.