Honourable Minister Catherine McKenna (Environment and Climate Change) was in town at Brampton Transit’s Sandalwood Facility Monday morning (July 29th, 2019) to announce $11 million of funding from the federal government to support the development of an electric transit infrastructure for Brampton. Minister McKenna was joined by Brampton Members of Parliament Ruby Sahota, Sonia Sidhu, Kamal Khera, and Ramesh Sangha.
Mayor Patrick Brown, along with Councillors Michael Palleschi and Martin Medeiros were also in attendance for this exciting announcement, which provides funding for eight battery electric buses, and four bus charging stations in the City of Brampton. The electric buses are scheduled to hit the streets by late 2020 or early 2021, operating on the Sandalwood and Mount Pleasant routes (23 and 26, respectively).
Dr. Josipa Petrunic, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) also gave a motivating and enthusiastic talk about the leading role Canada is taking on the world stage in the e-mobility sector. “You don’t have to have a big economy to do it. You just have to be the first, and the best”, she explained.
This new technology will allow for the electric buses to “plug-and-play” into charging stations created by multiple manufacturers, which is setting a standard for the world. As the transit industry rises to the forefront of the tech world, it is exciting to see the role Brampton will play in this industry shift.
This announcement marks another investment by the federal government in innovative technological projects in Brampton, coming after an investment of $10 million in cybersecurity education in partnership with Ryerson University.
Edited by: Farrah Kudus
