Electric vehicles will shuttle bus drivers to and from routes
Along with the money to upgrade the Canada Games Centre, Whitehorse is receiving more federal money for its transit system.
Along with the money to upgrade the Canada Games Centre, Whitehorse is receiving more federal money for its transit system.
“The Public Transit Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program is funding two electric vehicles to shuttle Whitehorse Transit drivers to and from active routes,” reads a statement on the funding.
“This will help ensure that buses can stay on their routes longer with multiple drivers, and in turn ensure more consistent service for the residents who rely on public transit to get around their communities.”
The federal government is investing $97,500 in the venture.
The Yukon government is contributing $32,500.
Mayor Laura Cabott said the vehicles will “enhance our transit system to make it a little bit easier to keep our buses running all the time.”
Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said the driver shuttle project “modernizes public transit with the addition of two electric vehicles to shuttle transit drivers to and from active routes.
“This allows buses to stay on their active routes with multiple drivers. Our government is proud to invest $32,500 towards this project and we are grateful for the additional investment of $97,500 from the Government of Canada.”
The projects announced Thursday “make every difference for Whitehorse residents and the Yukon,” Mostyn added. “This is invaluable infrastructure.”
Comments (13)
Up 0 Down 0
Anie on Jan 25, 2024 at 3:10 pm
John - thank you for your comment. Just want to explain that sarcasm was not my intention. I truly do feel strongly that discussion based on facts is more productive. But I will try to avoid phrasing that might be misunderstood.
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John on Jan 24, 2024 at 9:20 pm
@ Anie on Jan 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
It is likely the tone of your message the solicited the thumbs down. It may have been because your comment ended in sarcasm. I always try and remember "it is not what you think you mean when you say something it is rather how it is received by the reader".
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Nathan Living on Jan 24, 2024 at 5:39 pm
I have full confidence in transporting bus drivers in electric vehicles.
I believe the city has given a lot of thought to improving bus routes, cost effectiveness and program delivery.
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Anie on Jan 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
What a funny place we live in - 37 thumbs down for politely correcting an incorrect statement.
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Moose101 on Jan 23, 2024 at 3:26 pm
Perfect another 130k spent on useless vehicles . Let’s wait and see we’re these two vehicles are in couple of years???
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Apex Parasite on Jan 23, 2024 at 3:00 pm
@ Anie
I stand corrected in that what I described as rolling blackouts could better have been described as "a perfect storm of no wind, bitter cold, no sunlight, and two natural gas generators out of commission."
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Groucho d'North on Jan 23, 2024 at 10:07 am
Somebody please correct me if I got this wrong, but I'm reading COW bus drivers will now be chauffeured to their fuel burning buses in two new electric vehicles of some kind. That means two COW staff will be the chauffeurs for these drivers.
Why? Well Her worship Mayor Laura Cabott said the vehicles will “enhance our transit system to make it a little bit easier to keep our buses running all the time.”
Will these chauffeurs be new hires or will existing staff get a new job description? I ask because whenever staff are involved in a project the contribution amounts for the project from the governments need to be considered, ($97,500 from the feds and $32,500. from YG) will not pay for two new EVs AND wages for the staffers delivering the bus drivers to their jobs.
I'm not an economist but this solution seems to be missing some values and benefits for the public. Sure buses will be burning diesel longer as the Mayor desires, but is more buses longer on their routes the net benefit? Okay two more people will have some job security until the money runs out, but after that?
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Iggy on Jan 23, 2024 at 3:10 am
I've got to agree with the radicals here this is ridiculous. You get yourself to work, always.
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Anie on Jan 22, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Alex, your information is incorrect. There were no rolling blackouts in Alberta. There was an emergency situation, caused by a perfect storm of no wind, bitter cold, no sunlight, and two natural gas generators out of commission. Albertans were asked to take immediate steps to reduce the load. They did. Everything was fine. Fact based arguments lead to better discussion.
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Apex Parasite on Jan 22, 2024 at 11:33 am
It's funny that people cannot critically assess the efficacy of EV's. They are for sure not as green as people are being led to believe and nobody seems to be able to put together we do not have the infrastructure currently to deal with them. Look at the rolling blackouts recently in Alberta....because it got cold. If you think about it critically, EV's are very heavy. Heavy things take more energy to move. Energy is energy. If it takes more to move a load where are the savings being made? The batteries seem to have a 10 year life span and cost like 25,000 to replace. The EV's will have to hold their value very well in a used marketplace being as it will cost you 25,000 to replace your batteries or you will end up pouring money into a decade old vehicle that could be worth not a lot more than you just dropped for batteries.
Recently we sold a 2007 civic with 370,000 trouble free kms on it. We sold it for a song basically and it is still running three years later. That's economy. That's simplicity.
EV's have a lot of externalities attached to both producing and running them that is not being discussed, or indeed, worse, the narrative is actively subverted by media / industry / marketing.
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Juniper1 Jackson on Jan 20, 2024 at 12:06 pm
"More federal money" translates into my taxes just went up.. again.
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Matthew on Jan 19, 2024 at 4:31 pm
This makes no sense here.. why operate essentailly free electric cabs when the busses already do that route? We are already paying 1 bus driver, now we have 2 more salaries to pay in these 2 new cabs? So many holes in this plan..
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Josey Wales on Jan 19, 2024 at 3:25 pm
Great, more state funded greenwashing 💸💸