Auditor cautions City of Ottawa against big electric bus purchase

The City of Ottawa's auditor general says the municipality should scale down its big plan to buy 74 electric buses this year because the four pilot buses won't yet be tested in all four seasons.

Nathalie Gougeon recommends OC Transpo first make sure it has gathered data on the bus technology, new charging infrastructure, and how to schedule routes based on the duration of a charge.

Last summer city council rushed to approve a strategy to spend $1 billion on 450 buses by 2027 in order to take advantage of significant financial help from the federal government. The move would quickly shift the OC Transpo fleet from diesel to electric.

The first phase would see the city buy 74 buses this year, although the city's audit committee heard Tuesday no federal funding agreements have yet been signed.

• OC Transpo to spend $1B to bring in electric bus fleet by 2027
• Auditor to study City of Ottawa's $1 billion electric bus plan

Gougeon has taken the unusual step of proactively auditing the procurement, rather than waiting until OC Transpo buys the buses. Her team filed its first report to audit committee on Tuesday focused on the bus technology.

Adding 74 electric buses to a fleet of four would be a "large operational task," she pointed out and transit systems in Edmonton and Montreal did not take such large leaps.

"We're trying to direct management to ensure that they're getting the lessons learned, and they're not ... biting off more than they can chew in their first round of purchases," Gougeon told reporters. "We're just trying to avoid how many pain points the city may hit."

Testing going well, OC Transpo says

The first four New Flyer battery-electric buses arrived in Ottawa last fall. Recently, two have been operating on routes all over the city, a third is used for training, and the fourth is in the garage to test the system in the ceiling that slowly charges buses.

Transit commission chair Coun. Allan Hubley admitted he had been concerned about the big push for electric buses, after the city's poor experience more than a decade ago with hybrid buses, which had to be sold off when they consumed too much fuel. 

"I'll be the first to say it's a bit of a gamble to [buy electric buses] without the pilot, but there was huge financial incentive to go ahead with this," said Hubley. He asked staff how the first electric buses are faring in a cold winter with big snowfalls. 

Jim Greer, Ottawa's director of transit operations, said the buses operated in –26 C weather, none got stuck in the most recent winter storm, and the bus model has gone 314 kilometres on a charge, further than expected.

City of Ottawa management said it would take the auditor general's suggestion to scale back into consideration. 

"We'll make sure that we are ready when we buy the buses to be able to assure the reliability," said transit general manager Renée Amilcar.

The auditor's recommendation goes to full city council on March 9.

"With every innovative-type transformation like this, there's going to be issues," Gougeon said. "The first thing we need to be realistic about is nothing's going to go smoothly 100 per cent of the time."

Gougeon's next audit will focus on the financial plan for buying the electric buses, a process currently underway in the city treasurer's office.