Quebec’s roads will soon see over 1,200 new electric buses added to their fleet.

Quebec’s public transit fleet is set to receive a significant boost with the purchase of 1,229 electric buses to be manufactured in the province.

Nova-Bus, based in St-Eustache, won the tender issued in April 2022 and will be responsible for producing the buses. This project is the largest electric bus acquisition in North America, according to the governments of Quebec and Ottawa.

The initiative will cost around $1.1 billion, with Quebec investing the majority and Ottawa contributing around $780 million.

The announcement about the funding for the electric bus initiative was made by Quebec’s Transport Minister, Geneviève Guilbault, and Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, in St-Eustache.

This initiative will enable ten public transit agencies to replace their existing fleets with electric buses that have a minimum range of 300 kilometres.

The buses will be delivered to transit agencies in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, Quebec City, Outaouais, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Lévis, Saguenay, and the exo transit system in the greater Montreal area.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) will act as the project’s agent and will be responsible for procuring the buses on behalf of the other transit agencies.