Winnipeg has become the first Canadian city to have a zero-emission articulated bus as part of its public transit fleet. On Thursday, the city showed off a new 60-foot bus that will be hitting the streets and picking up passengers next week. It is the first of 16 zero-emission buses the city has ordered. The cost is being shared by all three levels of government through a cost-sharing program that has since ended. Mayor Scott Gillingham said if the program returned, the city would consider ordering more of the buses. “If the federal government would come out with another similar program, or the province of Manitoba comes out with another transit program specific to purchasing and helping the city to purchase zero-emission buses, then we would certainly look into that and continue that,” he said. The buses are built by New Flyer, and cost twice as much as regular diesel buses. The city has also ordered a combination of battery-electric buses and fuel-cell battery-electric buses to be used in its bus fleet.
