Calgary to seek new electric shuttle bus provider after original contract cancelled

Calgary Transit is going back to the market for a small fleet of electric shuttle buses after it was forced to cancel its original contract due to delays.

The original contract was signed with Vicinity Motor Corporation in June 2021 to supply 14 electric shuttle buses for the pilot, but the contract was scrapped “earlier this year.”

“Unfortunately, they suffered several delays in their production of the buses,” said Stephen James, a senior engineer in Calgary Transit’s service vehicles division.

“It just became apparent to us that we didn’t think we were going to get these buses so we decided to cancel that contract.”

However, there have been questions around the city’s deal with Vicinity after multiple reports suggest the company is facing receivership.

Vicinity Motor Corporation did not respond to Global News’ request for comment.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said suggestions the city is still in a deal with the company is “misinformation that needs to be dispelled”

“We are not in a contract with a company that has gone under,” Gondek told reporters. “We have been very careful about how we’re doing any type of procurement.”

As the city prepares to tender a new contract for the pilot project, officials maintain Vicinity was not paid any funds allocated for the project due to the “nature of the contract.”

“(Vicinity) could only invoice us and we would only be able to pay them once they delivered buses,” James said. “Because they never delivered any buses, we never paid them.”

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The pilot project is set to cost $14 million, with $7 million provided by the Government of Alberta’s Emissions Reduction Alberta grant program.

According to the city, a new request for proposal is set to be put to market in the coming months to buy between five and seven electric shuttle buses.

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean questioned whether the city should continue with the pilot project, calling the cancellation of the original contract “a big warning sign.”

McLean also pointed to this year’s upcoming budget deliberations, with a cap on spending and various priorities around infrastructure needs.

“People aren’t very happy, they don’t want us to spend a bunch of their taxpayer money on electric buses right now,” he said. “How about we listen to them for a change?”

The pilot project for electric shuttle buses comes at the same time Calgary Transit seeks a vendor for up to 180 zero-emission 40-foot electric buses.  Transit said the plan is to award that contract next year, with delivery of the buses in 2026 and hitting the road in 2028.

Those longer buses are part of a long-term plan to replace 259 diesel buses with electric ones while upgrading accompanying infrastructure using $325 million in grant funding from Infrastructure Canada’s Zero Emission Transit Fund, a $165 million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank and $100 million from the city.

According to Calgary Transit, the 40-foot electric buses don’t require a pilot because they have “proven public transit service hours in climatic conditions like Calgary,” while the electric shuttle buses need a testing phase.

“There just isn’t jurisdictions out there that are running electric shuttles at the moment,” James said. “We have quite a number of shuttle buses in our fleet that that will eventually need to be transitioned to zero-emission over time too and so that’s something we’re really looking to try.”

Fourteen electric bus charging stations have been installed inside the Springs Gardens garage as part of the pilot project.

The city is also transitioning to using 450 compressed natural gas buses by 2027 with upgrades and fueling stations already complete at the Stoney Transit Facility.

“I think it’s important we have a diverse fleet,” Gondek said. “To have electric buses as well just improves the diversity of our fleet and I think it’s important to do that.”

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