SC Minnesota News

Metro Transit needs to end its experiment with electric buses, according to the Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based policy group.

The transit authority pulled the entire fleet of buses from the newly-formed C-Line after discovering charging issues. The buses were supposed to be a green alternative to traditional diesel-powered buses. In practice, writes Isaac Orr of the Center of the American Experiment, the buses cost 50 percent more than diesel models and like many electric vehicles, struggle to maintain battery charge during the winter. He writes the transit authority spent an extra $3.2 million on buses that now cannot be used.

“Needlessly spending an additional $3.2 million on electric buses that don’t work as well as diesel buses is just one example of the senseless waste state and local government officials partake in to appear ‘green,’” Orr wrote.

He says government money would be better spent tackling local problems, like crime and educational shortfalls, than trying to address global problems like climate change.

In a statement on its website, Metro Transit states: “While disappointing, this setback does not diminish Metro Transit’s plans to continue purchasing electric buses in the future as funding allows.”