Electric double decker buses were out and about in Waipā last week as drivers trained on them in preparation for their debut on the Cambridge and Te Awamutu routes.
One of the two electric double decker buses in Cambridge last week for driver training. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Passengers on the Cambridge 20 and Kihikihi-Te Awamutu 24 services will soon board the three-axle vehicles which have the capacity to carry 80 seated, 20 standing and one wheelchair passenger.
New Zealand family-owned bus and coach company Tranzit has the Waikato Regional Council contract to provide public transport services in Waipā.
The company’s specialists designed the double deckers with the chassis built in China and the body in Malaysia.
It is believed to be the first of its kind, after modifications were made to a similar prototype that landed in New Zealand last year and will be the first double decker EV in the Waikato region.
Single level electric buses are used on the Taupō Connector and Waipā routes, where the Cambridge and Te Awamutu buses typically travel 350-500 kilometres a day, some of the longest public transport routes in New Zealand.
Electric buses in Waipā use are charged at depots in Leamington and Kihikihi provided by Waipā District Council.
Diesel double decker buses have been in Hamilton since 2018 on the Orbiter route around the city.
Tranzit has been at the forefront of bus electrification in New Zealand since 2014, supplying EV buses for AUT in Auckland and Wellington in 2018, Palmerston North in 2021, Taupō last year and now Cambridge and Te Awamutu.
Other electric buses operate in Auckland, Waiheke Island, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson and Dunedin.
Kale Pompey, left, Tranzit Group Operations supervisor and Waikato Regional Council Public Transport Operations manager Trudi Knight with one of the two EV double deckers. Photo: Supplied.
