New Transit Bus Purchase Rolls Along

Not taking change and the soon to happen extinction of coin operated parking meters has opened up a $50,000 reserve towards the purchase of a new diesel powered 40 foot regular transit bus for $925,000.

Council was told the purchase was necessary as one of the present fleet of eight transit buses required large amounts of maintenance and the new bus was necessary to maintain the level of promised service.

The 40 foot bus is to replace a 30 foot bus as new 30 foot buses are no longer available.

Purchasing the new bus for $925,000 was approved in 2026 budget deliberations.

“It’s essentially a relic on the parking meter side. We are down on our parking meter side,” Director of Operations Bevan Harlton said in justifying the moving of the reserve funds from the coin machine to a new transit bus.

Harlton said the new bus is necessary given the condition of the unit it will replace and the loss of a 2016 bus in 2023 due to an accident.

The City had tried to purchase a 30 foot replacement bus in 2024 but the supplier went into insolvency and the bus was not available.

Harlton said with the supplier’s insolvency that 30 foot buses were no longer available and so a 40 foot bus would have to be purchased.

He went on to state that the market was being pushed to hybrid or electric buses but they were not reliable enough.

“The market is being pressed to hybrid buses but the most demand is for diesel buses…they are more reliable,” he said.

Buses the City purchased in 2018 are not in good shape.

The four buses cost $1,643,404. The Government of Canada's Public Infrastructure Fund contributed $792,544 of the total price, while the city funded the rest.

When purchased they were displayed with much fanfare as the long term future for Moose Jaw Transit.

The four new buses were rolled out to fanfare in May 2018. In 2026 they are rated as high risk maintenance-wise - file photo

The City is hoping to keep the four 2018 Infiniti buses operational until 2029.

The 2018 buses were typified as high risk and heading to breakdowns compared to four healthy units.

Harlton said in June a Public Transit Master Plan was coming on how to run the service and move forward.

Councilor Patrick Boyle spoke negatively about purchasing electric buses.

“(They’ve been) tried by other municipalities and it turned into a pretty good boondoggle,” he said.

In answer to his questioning Boyle was told that if a bus was unable to operate the bus service could not fulfill its service obligations.

“If we want to maintain the new level of service we need this or we have to cut?” he said.

The City recently reintroduced Saturday bus service after it was cut due to low ridership.

Cuts would have to take place in charter services that take people directly to grocery stores Harlton said.

“We want to maintain our level of service,” he said.

Interior of 2018 Infiniti buses when they were rolled out - file photo

Purchasing a new bus now rather than later was important as the price would be going up massively once a new motor was introduced.

Councillor Heather Eby said the request before Council was realistically being asked for a “$50,000 fund that’s just there.”

Eby indicated her support by saying “…we made a promise to our residents…”

It needs to be noted in the past Councillor Eby has been an opponent of expanding transit services due to costs.

Councillor Chris Warren asked if the new 40 foot bus would eliminate the need for an overflow bus. The response was no it would not.

Talk moved to the cost of a hybrid bus and Council was told it was 1.4 - 1.8 times the cost of a diesel bus.

He went on to state the timing for the bus purchase was good given how it would help maintain the level of service.

Council agreed unanimously to move the $50,000 reserve to purchase a new transit bus.