Officials Roll Out Battery-Powered Buses
- Share via
Santa Monica officials clambered aboard the city’s new electric buses Monday morning as the first three battery-operated public transportation vehicles were rolled out during a beach boardwalk parade.
The 26-foot-long shuttles hummed quietly as city officials took a spin in the new vehicles, which can operate for 10 hours before needing to be recharged. Wrapped in colorful murals depicting local scenery, the Tide shuttles join a fleet of traditionally powered buses that run daily between Third Street Promenade and Main Street.
“We want to be on the forefront of providing pollution-free vehicles,” said John Catoe, the city’s transportation director. “This brings together three aspects of our city: mobility, clean transportation and moving art.”
The new electric vehicles cost $226,000 each and were funded by the city’s Proposition A transportation money, a South Coast Air Quality Management District grant, and support from Edison EV and local hotels. Santa Monica officials said they would like 75% of the city’s fleet to be alternative fuel vehicles by 2000.
“These electric buses are more benign in terms of pollution,” said Mayor Pam O’Connor.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
On screen, Errol Flynn played a series of daredevils, fortune hunters, and suave romantics. Off screen, he lived a life of outsize debauchery and recklessness, including a persistent interest in underage girls. In 1943, at the height of his fame, he faced trial in Los Angeles on charges of statutory rape.
In our first episode, the L.A. Times columnist George Skelton sizes up the governors he’s known, what made them successful and whether the next one can measure up.
How do you get more people to care about climate change — and tell riveting stories along the way? Boiling Point explored that question at a live event during this year’s New York City Climate Week at Columbia University’s Climate School.
