Transit upgrades in Sudbury include smart cards, new buses

Greater Sudbury refreshes transit with smart cards, mobile passes and six new diesel buses. The city cites cost as the reason electric options remain sidelined.

Greater Sudbury’s transit system is launching some changes this month, including a wave of digital upgrades and a new fleet on city streets.

Brendan Adair, the city’s manager of transit, said ridership numbers have decreased slightly in recent months, a trend he attributes to students being out of school.

But Adair said the GOVA Pass Mobile app, launched in March, has been successful.

“Our ridership per day is about 40 per cent using the app,” he said.

“So, they’ve adapted to that and chosen that option.”

Additionally, the city is officially phasing out traditional magnetic strip passes.

Taking their place are new transit smart cards, which launched last week.

“We’ve seen upwards of almost a thousand cards sold,” Adair said. “So, we’re happy to see that uptick.”

He added that the new cards offer a security upgrade for riders.

New smart cards

“The other positive piece for our customers is that value is protected,” Adair said.

“Previously, if somebody lost a 31-day pass, that value was gone and we couldn’t protect it. With our new cards, there’s a protection ability for that.”

For residents who aren’t comfortable using smartphones or online portals, he said that cards can still be loaded in person at the main transit kiosk or at local libraries.

Additionally, six new diesel buses will be in service this week. One has already been in use.

“It’s part of our accelerated bus purchase program,” Adair said.

“It’s an ongoing capital project that will see the replacement of up to 53 buses. So, at this point, once we have these six online, we’ll be up to 35 new buses.”

New diesel buses cost $1M each

Adair said the diesel buses are much cheaper than electric buses, adding that the transition to a fully electric fleet comes with a massive upfront price tag.

“A diesel bus is upwards of $1 million,” he said.

“And we know that battery-electric buses are much more than that. For the interim, we are purchasing diesel buses.”

Adair said the city is currently testing a greenhouse gas reduction system as a compromise.

Local EV advocates call the decision to stick with diesel a disappointment.

“It’s especially unfortunate right now with all the geopolitical events happening in the world, with gas prices going up, are they going to spend more money on diesel fuel versus electricity?” said Devin Arthur, EV Society of Greater Sudbury president and director of government relations for EV Society of Canada.

“And will that kind of compensate for the fact that the capital was more expensive?”

Arthur added that the city has made progress in making the switch to electric for its light- to medium-sized fleet.

“It’s all about cost and balancing what the city can’t afford with other higher priority items,” he said.

“Fully recognizing that there are issues with homelessness, drug use, that kind of thing. So, you kind of have to balance it.”

However, Arthur said the city doesn’t have to foot the bill alone. There is funding available from provincial and federal governments that would help the city to recoup the heavy upfront capital investment required for green infrastructure.