Transport Board to Replace All Diesel Buses with 120 Electric Buses Following Arrival of 31 New Units

When an additional 31 electric buses arrive in the island from China later this year, the Transport Board will remove all its remaining diesel vehicles, creating a fleet of only electric buses.

This development was revealed by Fabian Wharton, chief executive officer of the state-owned Transport Board, as he provided an update to the Members of Parliament as the 2025-2026 Estimates debate shifted to the Ministry of Transport and Works, under which the Transport Board falls.

From the well of Parliament, Wharton told the Lower Chamber that while the Transport Board had addressed some issues, it “still had some challenges” because it needed additional resources.

“I’m also pleased to hear that in the Estimates of the additional 31 [buses] because what that does is a couple of things; it will be a fleet of 120 electric buses. . . . What that means, we remove all of the diesel buses from out of the Transport Board fleet. What that immediately does is remove about a $4 million expenditure item on the diesel side,” the CEO disclosed.

The $4 million annual saving will be the result of reduced maintenance costs by about 30 to 40 per cent, Wharton told the House, adding: “I’ll put that in hard numbers, at maybe $2 million or $3 million on top of the savings we would have gained from buying the original set [of buses].

Pointing to a significant improvement in the delivery of the school bus service, the Transport Board boss conceded that there were still issues with long waits on some routes which he said in some cases could be attributed to heavy traffic on many roads.

He added: “By and large, from an economic standpoint, from financial standpoint, the Transport Board investment has helped us significantly in terms of reducing [costs]”

The Ministry of Transport and Works is also responsible for 13 depots across the island, the Licencing Authority, the Drainage Unit, the Government Electrical Department, maintenance, repairs and rehabilitation of the road network, including highways, residential roads, tenantry roads, cart roads, bridges, retaining structures and culverts, the provisioning of streetlights, sidewalks, traffic management, drainage and signage, as well as for public transportation services and the Transport Authority.

The ministry has been allocated $128.92 million for the 2025-2026 financial year.

(IMC1)