Quebec authorized, on Tuesday, transport companies to proceed with the group purchase of more than 1,200 electric buses, nearly half of which will be intended for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).
The government is thus fulfilling the commitment made by Prime Minister François Legault last November at the United Nations (UN) Conference on Climate Change, which took place in Glasgow. On that occasion, he announced a total investment of $5 billion to electrify more than half of city buses by 2030 in Quebec.
The government’s green light will allow the STM to make a joint purchase for nine transport companies, including the Société de transport de Laval, the Réseau de transport de la capital and the Réseau de transport de Longueuil, as well as for exo, which manages the commuter train network in the metropolitan area.
The project announced on Tuesday provides for the acquisition of more than 1,200 12-meter electric buses which should be delivered between 2024 and 2026. Government subsidies could reach up to 95% of the cost of purchasing the vehicles, it was said. . The call for tenders must include certain requirements, including 25% Canadian content and vehicle assembly carried out in Canada.
On the sidelines of the Glasgow climate conference last November, Quebec announced that from 2025, all new vehicles acquired by transport companies and benefiting from government assistance should be electric. As part of its five billion urban bus electrification project, Quebec promised a contribution of $3.65 billion, to which was added a federal contribution and that of the transport companies. An amount of 2.4 billion was to be used for the purchase of a total of 2,148 vehicles by 2030 and 2.6 billion were intended for the adaptation of the garages of the nine Quebec transport companies.
At the time, Quebec had already begun discussions with Quebec manufacturers such as Novabus and Lion Electric, but François Legault had not ruled out the possibility that a foreign company could obtain the contract due to international rules.
According to the government, this is the largest project to acquire electric city buses in North America.
On Twitter, Mayor Valérie Plante recalled that transportation accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Montreal. “Investing in electric and collective transport is a good move towards a low-carbon city,” she stressed.