BUFFALO, N.Y. — The NFTA started receiving electric buses in April 2022. They got the last of the first order at the end of 2022. That means they now have ten electric buses.
However, more are on the way.
Fourteen electric buses are expected by the end of 2023 and an additional 13 will arrive in 2024.
It's all part of New York State's initiative to go green.
The state has given the NFTA funding for the electric buses, mandating the entire fleet be electric by 2035.
Retired NFTA equipment engineer Jeffrey Sweet says each bus costs about $1 million and the charging equipment is about $300,000.
All of the electric buses are charged in the Cold Spring Bus Garage with overhead chargers.
"What's being installed here is sized to charge 50 buses. So every time we buy a bus, we buy a charger and we also buy the overhead charging equipment. Once we exceed 50 buses, then a third feed will come in from the utility and then we'll be able to expand to 100 buses," Sweet said.
Each bus is supposed to last at least 15 years, about 700,000 miles, similar to a diesel bus.
Only half of the first order of buses are out on the roads right now, being tested over 8-hour periods.
"We're writing down what's working, what's not," Sweet said.
The electric buses are already rolling out on four test routes including 8 Main, 12 Utica, 13 Kensington and 26 Delavan.
"It's a much smoother ride. Not as much noise, no fumes," said Doreen Davis, an NFTA bus driver. "I'm comfortable with it."
They're also being tested in cold weather.
Over the weekend, in single-digit temperatures, Sweet says the buses ran smoothly.
Still, they all have a backup safety heater that runs on diesel to ensure passenger safety.
"We all know all the not-so-good things that happened in the last snowstorm. Well, the reason we put a backup safety heater on the bus is so that if the bus is stranded in a cold weather event, we can keep our passengers safe until the situation has resolved," Sweet said.
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