QUÉBEC AND OTTAWA ANNOUNCE THE PURCHASE OF 1229 ELECTRIC NOVA BUSES

By Éric Descarries

Perhaps one of the most impressive announcements of the year, the governments of Québec and Canada have announced in the last few days the purchase of some 1,229 all-electric Nova buses for a dozen public transit companies in the province of Québec, which would represent a possible reduction of some 930,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The budget for this venture reaches CAD 2.1 billion.

The contract, the largest bus acquisition in North America, was awarded to Nova Bus, who will build the vehicles, basically low-floor LFSe’s measuring about 40 feet, at its two Québec plants. The range of each bus (worth more than $583 million per unit) would be about 300 kilometres. The buses are expected to be delivered between 2025 and 2030.

The transit authorities that will benefit are:

Société de transport de Montréal (STM)

Réseau de transport métropolitain (RSM)

Société de transport de Laval (STL)

Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC)

Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL)

Société de transport de Lévis (STL)

Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO)

Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS)

Société de transport en commun de Trois-Rivières (STTR)

Société de transport du Saguenay (STS).