Seneca ready to test Electric Buses with Passengers

After seven years offering fare-free public transit service, the City of Seneca becomes the first in the nation to offer all-electric passenger service throughout its city. Seneca Planning and Development Director Ed Halbig says this is the final deployment phase of the four electric buses. Passengers catch the new buses at the lower level of the park starting Wednesday morning. “We will have tents and benches set up down at the lower end of the park. We have been informing passengers of the relocation. So at 6:20am Wednesday, Sept. 3, the bus service will continue as it has been for the past few years except that we will be operating with our new all-electric bus system.” Halbig explains what makes these buses so unique. “First of all, they are 100% electric vehicles, they are not hybrids or other natural gas powered vehicles. They’re quitter, they are very efficient and they don’t pollute as much because they don’t put out the diesel exhaust.” These new electric buses were built by Proterra in Greenville and are operated by Clemson Area Transit (CAT). They can also recharge to full capacity in less than nine minutes.