From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
That low carbon bus crap stuff isn’t only failing in Aberdeen!
From Western Journal:
New York City is pretty much broke. Mayor Zohran Mamdani may be crowing about the fact that he’s balanced the city’s budget, but that’s mostly because lawmakers in Albany bailed him out. There are also looming tax increases driving people out of the city and gutting future revenue, so that’s an issue.
In short, now isn’t the time that NYC needs to be making a capital outlay on something that should have been predicted long ago. But apparently, a bunch of electric buses that Gotham bought in order to go zero emissions? Yeah, it turns out that, in a development that could have been predicted by anyone who’s followed EV developments, the city’s transit authority is going to have to acquire 650 new buses that run on compressed natural gas because the EV buses won’t work.
From The City Reporter, Sept. 10:
The MTA committed nearly a decade ago to having its entire fleet of close to 6,000 buses be emissions-free by 2040, but officials on Thursday said the transportation authority is instead seeking proposals from manufacturers to produce low-emissions alternatives to diesel.
Officials tied the release of a request for proposals to the “Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service” plan unveiled in July by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as the head of the MTA has repeatedly acknowledged that electric-bus technology is “still immature.”
“The governor and the mayor have been clear: better bus service can’t wait,” said Janno Lieber, the transportation authority’s chairperson and chief executive. “So, while the electric bus industry continues to mature, MTA is moving forward with CNGs to further improve service for the millions of New Yorkers who ride MTA buses every day.”
Yes, like any good socialist, Zohran Mamdani wants zero-emission vehicles. However, when you’ve based much of your image on getting the buses running on time and in order, spending absurd amounts of money on articulated EV buses that don’t work as much as they should is a major problem. And when you consider the whole project of replacing the city’s entire bus fleet with EVs is estimated to cost $12 billion and use enough electricity to light 200,000 houses to accomplish, as The City Reporter noted, that becomes a double whammy.
And the city is turning back to compressed natural gas, purchasing the 650 new CNG-powered vehicles to replace 620 CNG-powered vehicles it purchased in 2013.
The City Reporter is describing the move as “part of the MTA’s largest single upgrade to its fleet since 2013.” This is being counted as a win by the people who should have known better in the first place.
“Modern, reliable buses can spend more time on the road and less time in the shop than the old vehicles they will replace, a win for riders who depend on frequent, reliable service to get around,” Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement, according to The City Reporter.
Anyone with sense could have told them this years ago, but why learn from logic when you can get knocked around by experience?
