Broome County Travels Toward Electric Transit Bus Fleet

Broome County is rolling out more public transportation that will be kinder to Mother Earth.

County officials June 6 announced it is heading toward a fully electric BC Transit bus system by 2029 or 2030, displaying a new, all-electric bus at the BC Transit facility on Mill Street in Vestal.

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Broome County Commissioner of Public Transportation Greg Kilmer and County Executive Jason Garnar made the announcement of the addition of a half dozen electric buses with investment coming to support a fully-electric fleet over the next several years.

Part of that investment will be in establishing charging stations at a cost of $1.2 million.

The County says it expects to take delivery of the NovaBus vehicles in the next 12 to 15 weeks. The buses can go around 200 miles on a single charge according to company officials.  The vehicles use technology developed and manufactured by BAE Systems in Endicott.

Funding from the program is coming from a federal grant.

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In June of 2021, BroomeTransit announced it had secured a $3.25 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation Low and No Emission Vehicle Grant Program, to add a half dozen electric buses to its fleet, with components produced by BAE Systems.

The County bus service has operated over a dozen BAE hybrid drive buses for the past year with the goal of moving toward a totally electric, zero-emission fleet.