TELL THE MBTA WHY TRANSITION TO ZERO-EMISSION ELECTRIC BUSES IS IMPORTANT TO YOU HERE
A new report calls on the MBTA to hasten its slow-paced conversion to electric buses and suggests the 71 and 73 routes play a key role. These buses would be converted to vehicles that could use the existing overhead wiring to charge their batteries in motion, allowing them to run off the wires for several miles on battery power alone.
The report “Bus Electrification Accelerating the Electrification of Bus Service in the Boston Metro Area” Report Here Summary Here by the Sierra Club, Transit Matters, and Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) along with 14 partner organizations calls the MBTA’s plans “too little too late”.
The MBTA current plan specifies the continued purchasing of hundreds of polluting diesel hybrid buses while gradually transitioning to battery-powered vehicles that all require overnight charging in special new garage facilities. The plan would not achieve full electrification until 2040.
The new report argues that depending solely on overnight charging reduces flexibility and slows the transition. It identifies two alternative technologies – InMotion charging (IMC) and InRoute charging (IRC)– that should be part of the mix. It outlines an implementation rollout that would achieve full electrification by 2030, avoid hundreds of interim diesel hybrids, reduce emissions earlier, save money, serve environmental justice communities, and improve public health for all.
A key first step.would be to update the aging electric buses on Watertown’s 71 and 73 routes to use the current catenary wires for InMotion charging..
It is convenient to use the upcoming Mt. Auburn reconstruction as reason to permanently remove these wires, but InMotion charging buses have the capacity to go off line during construction and congestion and to extend their routes. This would allow electric buses to continue during the reconstruction of the Mt. Auburn Street.
While InMotion charging and its expansion to suitable routes is only one part of the rollout proposed, we in Watertown have a stake in ensuring that the proposed better, faster, more cost effective plan does not get lost in the Mt. Auburn reconstruction. We should advocate locally with town officials and representatives to preserve the overhead capacity on the 71 and 73 and send a message to the MBTA TAKE ACTION HERE Tell the MBTA Why Transitioning to Zero-emission Electric Buses Is Important to You! |