Eight out of 17 UB Stampede buses will now run solely on electricity.
The university’s parking and transportation department held a ribbon cutting ceremony for these battery-electric buses Monday afternoon.
This electricity-fueled fleet is only one of the physical manifestations of the University’s pledge to have net zero emissions by 2030. Per UB’s “10 In 10” commitment plan, the buses are part of an overall initiative to transition its fleet of 500 total vehicles to electric ones.
That milestone is not the finish line, said Ryan McPherson, UB’s chief sustainability officer.
“It showed our ability to move from ambitious plans to measurable results,” McPherson said.
The university entered a 10-year contract with WeDriveU, a third-party transportation provider, two years prior in a transition to fully-electrified Stampede fleets. Eleven new 25-passenger shuttles and 20 refurbished 39-passenger transit buses are already on the road.
The results of this new step in innovation was done by the university’s vision and campus knowledge, WeDriveU’s operational knowledge of running electric fleets at scale and fleet electrification specialist company Zenobe’s infrastructural knowledge, said WeDriveU Chief Commercial Officer Tim Wayland.
Laura Hubbard, UB’s vice president for finance administration, says the result is something “we can all be proud of.”
“A transportation system that’s cleaner, more innovative and better positioned for the future,” Hubbard said.
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Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
