In recent months I’ve assembled a long, long list of hydrogen bus trials that ended up with the transit agencies realizing what should have been obvious before they started: hydrogen buses are a lot more expensive and battery electric buses are much cheaper and more reliable. More come out of … [continued]
The latest hydrogen bus setback in Germany is no surprise. Essen and Mülheim are now stuck with 19 hydrogen buses that need to travel up to 89 km round trip just to refuel after the state of North Rhine–Westphalia withdrew its subsidy for further fleet conversion. The financial burden has … [continued]
Electric buses are transforming Europe’s public transportation system faster than many policymakers expected. In 2024, nearly half of all new city buses sold in the European Union were battery-electric, according to a new report from Transport & Environment (T&E). This shift marks a decisive moment in the debate over how … [continued]
On March 3, 2025, all 25 hydrogen-powered Solaris Urbino 12 Hydrogen buses operated by MPK Poznań were abruptly withdrawn from service. This decision followed onboard diagnostic systems detecting unexpected malfunctions across the entire fleet. The affected buses had been refueled at a public hydrogen station in Poznań, supplied by … [continued]
Canada’s transition to electric buses is gaining momentum, with numerous cities from west to east adopting zero-emission vehicles to enhance sustainability in public transit. While hydrogen has often been getting the attention, what’s really been happening is lots of electric buses. Let’s take a trip across the country. Victoria, located … [continued]
Who would have thought that New York’s congestion pricing plan would raise $48.6 million in tolls during its first month? Clearly not President Donald J. Trump, who insists that the toll plan hurts local business. Trump has ordered the Department of Transportation to revoke New York’s federal congestion pricing authorization. … [continued]
For several months I’ve been digging through what’s going on with a Canadian transit ‘think’ tank, CUTRIC, and why it’s pushing hydrogen buses into city plans across the country. It keeps claiming hydrogen buses have been a success and are cheap, but cities keep canceling their plans for them as … [continued]
A sign of a great city is that the rich take public transit. Well, not really. They take light rail and subways. But they don’t take buses. In many cities, light rail systems attract a more affluent ridership compared to buses, highlighting a persistent disparity in public transit usage. Studies … [continued]
Over a couple of the last months of 2024, part of my time was spent looking at the bizarre situation of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC). That’s resurfaced, as the Mississauga hydrogen bus trial is going forward despite having zero merit, and CUTRIC’s founder and head … [continued]
For several years there have been a couple of parallel slow motion failures in the making, the use of hydrogen in transportation and the Jetsons’ fantasy of air taxis zipping over cities. Neither were based in economic, regulatory, or technical reality, preferring instead to have vast sums of governmental and … [continued]
