Jackson Buys 8 Electric Buses For Transit System, But None Are Working

Cowboy State Daily ^ | September 26, 2023 | Kevin Killough

[Brian Griffin]

Governments should ask around quite a bit before making a major purchase, especially when new technology is involved.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

We were in Canada for a nine day vacation a couple weeks ago and finished in Banff, AB. The main downtown street is closed off to cars, but city buses can use it. They use battery powered buses and they were great. It was wonderful not having stinky, very noisy diesel busses on the six or eight block long pedestrian stretch of the street.

The sound and acceleration feel reminded me of the electric Muni buses I used to ride in San Francisco except those used a pantograph to pull power from the overhead wires. With the battery busses, no wires or pantograph is required, so the street is a LOT more esthetically pleasing.

This was my first ride on a battery powered municipal bus, so I was eager to try it out. I was impressed. Banff is a small town and geographically compact, so the buses can easily get to the farthest ends of their routes. The bus was comfortable, quiet and very smooth -- ideal for small tourism-oriented town. Their quietness and lack of stink made sitting at the outdoor cafes and restaurants to dine and drink very pleasant.

I took a quick snap of the back of one bus in town. They have gorgeous prints all over their buses.

I don't know how long these have been in service, what their reliability record is, or which direction reliability is headed -- or whether any have exploded. I wish them well!

[gitmo]

Ready! Fire! Aim!

[Reno89519]

Yes, and imagine the size of a boom a bus would make? Or one of Tesla’s semis.

[oil_dude]

FIRE EVERYONE INVOLVED.

[existentially_kuffer]

>>>No. However, people who mention the dangers of EVs will be censored for spreading “disinformation”.

lol, I’m starting to think like cigarette packages, EVs should wrapped with hazardous to your health & may cause fire or explosive potential!

[Iron Munro]

When will they catch on?

The government push to purchase electric vehicles isn’t to have electric vehicles that serve a purpose.

That’s the stated purpose but it is really a way to feed taxpayer money to businesses that kickback substantial amounts to the elected politicians and bureaucrats who are behind the policiy.

It doesn’t matter if the EVs work, are rfficient or a good investment, or are good for the climate/ecology.

What matters is that government subsidies and purchases create movement of money in large amounts.

When money is in movement it can be skimmed and come back as kickbacks.

When money is not moving it’s difficult to skim off the top and extort kickbacks.

After all - Senator Mendez didn’t find those gold bars buried in his back yard.

[Carl Vehse]

Someone(s) in Jackson probably got their 10% cut from the purchase of the buses.

[eyeamok]

This is why it should be the Public Employee’s that bear the cost of Stupid, NOT the Taxpayers.

[stockpirate]

Too funny. Hope all the buses the company sold ate just as good.

I wonder what happens when an EV explodes and burns killing every one the bus.

[wild74]

At least the mayor and city council got to virtue signal

[oldtech]

Pretty sure Jackson is quite cold in the winter & that would make it a very unwise place to utilize electric buses. Hope the responsible folks in the city have since fired the idiots who made the decision to purchase the buses.

[Enterprise]

LAMO!!! Very appropriate!

[Enterprise]

"Have not heard reports about those vehicles yet."

Just wait. Winter's coming.

[AZJeep]

They cost about triple compared to the Diesel ones.

And, even if they worked, they need to spend long time in the docking station. That means you need double the number of EV busses to achieve the same work, provided they work as advertised!

[EVO X]

Ditto. Near the bottom of the article it is mentioned the FEDs picked up 80% of the cost of the buses. The locals don’t care if EV buses are a good solution for the operating environment.

[bert]

the busses aren’t Tesla’s

[roadcat]

Instead, a majority wanted driving to remain inconvenient in hopes that people would ride more bikes and take public transit, Vogelheim said, adding, “That’s not very practical.”

Who is this "majority" wanting driving to be inconvenient? That's a problem everywhere, building bike paths that no one uses, and wasting money on public transit that doesn't work. No thanks, I want to drive my car.

[budj]

From the article: "Proterra might have seemed like a solid company when the buses were ordered. It enjoyed financial support from federal taxpayers, as well as praise from President Joe Biden.

Probably no better reason than that to pass on the deal.

[JohnBovenmyer]

“Jackson Hole” as opposed to “Jackson’s Whole” in the Vorkosigan Saga. Although the levels of greed and morality are similar for both. Dick and Liz would fit in well at the latter.