The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, spent $133 million on a state-of-the-art electric bus system only to see it go bust.
The arrangement for 15 electric buses slated for the city’s transit
fleet is being cancelled after staff cited brake failures and other
equipment malfunctions during training and testing, according to Mayor
Tim Keller.
“When we started running the buses on test runs, we found major problems
with the battery range, the brakes and some electrical issues,” Keller
said. “They seem to be things that were already on the ‘to be fixed
list,’ but they started getting worse.
“No one will make an electric bus to our specifications because they say
it’s not possible,” Keller said. “No other company will do it. There’s
no option for electric. We’ll go with a version of clean diesel or gas,
then we’ll look to phase in electric once the technology catches up.”
Since the project was shelved, the buses are sitting out of commission
and the stations for the rapid transit system sit unused, inviting
vandals to destroy the newly built ticket stations.
A waste of tax payers money!
