Louisville Gets Its First Fully-Electric, Zero-Emissions City Buses

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Louisville, Kentucky; the land of bourbon whiskey and bluegrass; the Gateway to the South; the site of the Great Flood of 1937; and the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

The Derby City; the River City; one of the oldest European-founded cities west of the Appalachians; and a city named after a French King that had his head cut off during the French Revolution.

And now, one of the first cities in the US to be home to a fleet of fully electric, zero-emissions, city-transit buses. Louisville’s Transit Authority of the River City recently debuted the new bus system — dubbed ZeroBus — at a launch event showcasing just how nice and shiny the new buses look.

Zero Louisville

Perhaps more interesting than the launch event, though, is simply taking a ride on them yourself — you can find available times on the transit authority’s website. The new routes will be replacing the popular (but fossil-fuel dependant) Toonerville Trolleys system in the downtown business loop area. The electric buses in question were built by Proterra.

While Louisville’s new electric bus system isn’t the first in the country, it no doubt is greatly appreciated, and is one of the first. The electric bus must be especially appreciated by Louisville residents, when you consider that Louisville has some of the worst air quality in the whole of the US.

Other cities around the country that now have electric bus service, to some degree or other, include: San Antonio (TX), Tallahassee (FL), Stockton and Pomona (California), and Worcester (Massachusetts). Seattle and Nashville are expected to implement electric buses sometime in the near future as well.

Not a bad start. But it’ll be nice once they are ubiquitous around the whole country, not just select cities and routes.

Image Credit: Transit Authority of the River City


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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