Stephen Rees's blog

Edmonton Sun

Photo by Michael Marriott

Translink bus on lease to Edmonton

Apparently Vancouver leasing them one of the nice new trolleybuses was not enough to convince them.

Some of the comments show how irrational and poorly informed decision makers can be. There is a deal of suspicion about the ETS estimate of how much extra buying new trolleys would be

Coun. Don Iveson, who voted to keep the trolleys, said he didn’t believe replacing the vehicles with hybrid buses would save $100 million – a figure touted by city administration.

So where is the supporting information?

By 2010, the cost of a new trolley bus is estimated to hit $950,000, while a hybrid will come with a price tag of $650,000 and a clean diesel will ring in at $425,000.

First off why look at prices in 2010 – you are buying them now – though they may not be delivered for two years. And since New Flyer would be doing a run on from the Vancouver order, their costs should be lower. And the 18 years given for trolley life is not at all what we have seen in service. The current Edmonton fleet is much older – as was the retired E902 fleet in Vancouver.

47 times $300k still leaves around $86 million unaccounted for and the life cycle cost of a trolley will be quite a bit different based on cheaper maintenance and lower energy cost. So maybe they decided to add in the cost of a complete replacement of the overhead. That was the technique used in both Toronto and Hamilton, when an official in the MTO was determined to force a switch to natural gas, which was less than a success. The operating entities simply neglected to maintain the overhead and watched it deteriorate to back the withdrawal decision.

Coun. Tony Caterina said it didn’t make sense to sink that kind of money into a type of vehicle that makes up only 3% of the transit fleet. Most people he’s talked to don’t like the system anyway, he said.

“They don’t like them, can’t stand them and would rather see open skies than the canopy (of wires) above.”

The percentage of the fleet is not what matters – its is the question of whether the choice of electricity is more sustainable in the long term than diesel. And the LRT has overhead wires too. Does that mean Edmonton is going to tackle its festoons of power, telephone and tv cable along every street?

Bob Boutilier, the city’s manager of transportation, warned putting money in trolleys would mean less cash for LRT.

So Canada’s richest province is still intent on stiffing city transit systems? Why not put the blame where it really lies. The Alberta Tories hate spending tax dollars on public works – even when it is essential to prop up their favourite project. The roads to the oil patch have been grossly inadequate for years- but the province of Alberta would rather pay off their debt and then give tax payers their own money back than invest wisely in the future.

Hybrids are a good solution if you have not got the world’s longest extension cord already strung over your streets. But if you look after the overhead, and all electric bus has some significant advantages. For one thing it does not carry the weight of an engine and fuel and can both pull as much power as it needs when accelerating or climbing, but can put power back when braking. And electricity can be generated all kinds of ways. In a world of rising oil prices that alone should catch their attention. There is of course no mention in this story of ghg or local air pollution.

The fact that most other North American cities got rid of their trolleys does not mean that they were wise or far sighted when they did so. But if you had stood up then before those city councils and talked about oil at $150 a barrel and vanishing glaciers, you would have been laughed out of the room.

But Edmonton Council knows about those things – or perhaps it needs a reminder – send it by web form here