ABC #399

NEWS
WWF-BACKED POST-
COVID RECOVERY
HIGHLIGHTS ‘CLEAN’
E-BUSES
THE WOT!?!
TAKING THE P***
This was the Edinburgh News’ front page on
November 9 – Lothian Buses drivers have been
accused of
dumping
bottles of
their urine
in bushes
on the aptly
named
Bogwood
Road in the
village of
Mayfield
near
Edinburgh.
“We have
worked
with local authorities and other partners to put
in place arrangements for toilet facilities along
our routes across Edinburgh and the Lothians,”
said Lothian Buses in its defence – raising the
question of where they thought bus drivers
were relieving themselves previously. And one
would hope that the bus is indeed stopped
before such matters are taken care of.
IN A MOVE to help stimulate Australia’s
pandemic-stymied economy, a World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia campaign
video promoting a $2 billion recovery
focusing on green technology has
crucially thrust electric buses further
into the mainstream spotlight, recently.
Renewable heavy vehicles specialist
Electromotiv is fronting the WWF
Australia campaign, which evolved after
a WWF-commissioned report by EY
suggested a clean stimulus package
could create more than 100,000 jobs
in a post-Covid-19-led recovery. And a
central element to the initiative is a $240
million investment in electric buses.
In the video released by WWF this
week, Electromotiv’s managing director
and co-founder Toby Roxburgh explains
that Australia is well-placed to take
advantage of renewable energy and to
manufacture the buses that will replace
their fossil-fuel precursors.
“Australia has a fantastic renewable
energy resource; we’re the perfect
location for zero-emission buses. The
technology is there and we can make
them in Australia,” Roxburgh said in the
video that shows Transport Canberra’s
Yutong E12 electric trial bus travelling
the streets.
Roxburgh believes the campaign
could not have come at a better time,
saying Australian governments have
until recently been reluctant to add
zero-emission buses to their fleets, but
that’s changing rapidly.
“The demand for electric buses is
exponential. In the first quarter of this
year we did nine electric buses for
Auckland. We’re now working on our
next 50, our next hundred and our next
200 vehicles,” he said.
IN TRANSITION
Earlier this year, Transport for New South
Wales announced it would transition its
8000-strong bus fleet to zero-emission
technology by 2050. In 2019, Brisbane
City Council appointed a bid team
offering a high-capacity electric vehicle
and infrastructure combination to
service its $944 million Brisbane Metro
project.
WWF Australia Energy Transition
manager Nicky Ison says the
investment in electric buses
outlined in the EY report could
double local manufacturing jobs
in the bus sector.
“We can rebuild our economy in a way
that sets up Australia for prosperity in a
world hungry for a low-carbon future,”
Ison said.
“Secure jobs, cleaner air, improved
health and a nation envied as a world
leader in renewables – they are all within
our grasp. Australians will prosper and
thrive under a renewables-led recovery,”
Ison explained.
Above:
Roxburgh believes the WWF Australiabacked
campaign could not have come at a
better time, saying Australian governments
have until recently been reluctant to add
zero-emission buses to their fleets, but that’s
changing rapidly.
RAMBLE ON
Things are a bit happier south of the border
in North Yorkshire, where a three-hour
double-decker ride over the moors has been
named the UK’s most scenic bus route in a
competition run by Bus Users UK. The 840
route between Whitby and Leeds cruises past
the medieval city walls of York before rambling
through the rolling Yorkshire countryside to
finish up at the coast and a dramatic view of
Whitby’s ruined gothic abbey. Though, you
probably will need a wee after sitting on the
bus for three hours… Spare bottle, anyone?
BORN TO BUS
Looking for Christmas present ideas? Bus
Driver Simulator has now been released on
your console of choice, offering “a high level of
realism, buses from various countries and two
faithfully reproduced cities (Cologne, Germany
and Serpukhov, Russia)”. If you just can’t get
enough of it during work hours, it includes
road events such as traffic jams and accidents,
the need for fuel stops and variable weather,
though it doesn’t seem to have kangaroos
rocketing out of nowhere, possibly to the relief
of our European counterparts.
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ABC November 2020 busnews.com.au