City council decided Monday night to receive and file a proposed Transit Zero Emissions Vehicle Feasibility Study rather than find funding to proceed with it.
The city had budgeted $190,600 for the study and had already been approved for a $152,480 grant from Infrastructure Canada, covering 80 per cent of the cost.
Administration brought the matter forward because the city had applied for the remaining 20 per cent — or $38,120 — through a grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
However, a requirement of the Infrastructure Canada grant is that the study be completed by the end of December, meaning work would need to begin immediately.
“When we spoke with the consultant, basically, if we want the full study that was requested, it would have to start immediately. So, the longer we wait, the more things we will have to take out of the study,” said city grant writer Tanya Reimer.
As a contingency, in case the FCM grant was not secured in time, administration proposed reallocating $18,100 from the gravel roads budget, $10,000 from transportation consulting services, and $10,000 from transportation legal support.
Reimer noted this was likely the city’s only opportunity to receive funding for the study.
“Just to let you guys know, we were the last to be accepted in this funding, so there will not be another opportunity for this funding,” she said.
Red flags were immediately raised by council members over reallocating $18,100 from gravel roads.
Coun. Carla Delaurier questioned whether electric buses would even be feasible in a city the size of Moose Jaw.
“I don’t know if our transit ridership is large enough to support the economics of zero-emission vehicles in the short or medium term. Zero-emission vehicles tend to be more cost-effective in cities with higher density and ridership, which can offset the higher upfront cost over time. But in smaller cities like Moose Jaw, the scale might not be there to make it financially reliable in the future,” Delaurier said.
Director of operations Bevan Harlton noted the industry is already moving away from conventional diesel buses. He said the study would help the city assess what it needs to do to become electric bus–ready.
“This is a push-pull situation where city transit across the country is being—pick your word—pushed into sourcing different technologies to move the fleet. On the other hand, we’re finding our suppliers are limiting and reducing the types of vehicles we can get under conventional engines,” Harlton said.
He added that administration is working toward a Transit Master Plan, and a study on zero-emission buses would support that work.
“We could go about this two ways. We could complete this report, attach it as background for the RFP for the Transit Master Plan, so we can say to the consultant we’ve completed this—use it as your basis for these next steps. Or I suppose that work could be done together. We didn’t put forward funding for the Transit Master Plan, and we hadn’t intended to until 2026. So, you won’t see it in this budget,” Harlton added.
He also explained the consequences of not completing the study.
“If we didn’t complete this work, we wouldn’t have that initial understanding of how a future fleet would operate and how a future facility would have to change and be added to support the fleet,” he said.
Coun. Heather Eby said she supported the study in theory but disliked the idea of taking money from the gravel roads budget.
“Thank goodness we might be a little bit ahead of something for a change instead of being behind the eight ball, and next year the federal government says, ‘Oh, now you’ve got to have electric buses,’ and we don’t have a clue what we even have to do at the city barns to make it work. So, to me, this is being proactive,” Eby said.
Coun. Chris Warren opposed administration’s recommendation and put forward a motion to proceed with the study only if the full cost could be covered by external grants. The motion was defeated 4–3, with Eby, Mayor James Murdock, Delaurier, and Coun. Dawn Luhning opposed.
Warren then moved to receive and file the report, which council passed unanimously.