LETTER

Free-fare electric buses

 

Bravo for your editorial on fare-free transit, but since one goal is to reduce pollution and smog, why no talk of electrification of the present bus systems in Gatineau and Ottawa?  Three Canadian cities are experimenting with electric bus fleets – Vancouver, York/Toronto, and Brampton. Internationally, there are trials underway in many large cities, with Shanghai (25 million) completely electric since 2017.  We don’t have to wait in the congestion of another five to 20 years to get light-rail, electrical or not.

What makes this possibility even more interesting is that our MLA, André Fortin, is Minister of Electrification, as well as Transport. Certainly he would support this in his own backyard?  Bombardier would keep all this business here in Quebec.  Isn’t this win/win?

J.A. Toscano,
Deschênes / Aylmer