We were in Banff, Alberta for a few days a couple months ago. The city uses a fleet of electric buses in the car-free downtown area. I’ve been skeptical, but they were very nice. The streets are blessedly quiet and diesel fume-free. The EV bus sound is just like the electric bus sound in San Francisco where the system uses overhead wires and a “pantograph” to collect power and bring it to the motors.
For tight, congested urban areas, the buses do a great job reducing noise pollution and diesel exhaust pollution. We will see how they do on reliability, maintenance and operating costs.
The winter population of Banff is eight thousand people.
After the tourists leave they don’t need the buses—so they can virtue signal without risking the life and limb of their passengers.