Update on Electric Bus Debut in Seneca

Charging issues delayed the debut of the new all-electric buses in the City of Seneca this week.  Service on Monday remained the same as it has been through the month of December with diesel service running and electric buses shadowing, explains Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander.  “They were having an issue with the charging stations and also there was an issue with the defrost on the bus.  That is one thing, the last several weeks these buses went through a testing period, that is what you hope happens that they will show up during that time.  But the buses went well for the two or three weeks of testing, we never had an issue.  On Friday, we had a couple of glitches that came out and so we decided that it would be better to continue running the diesel buses until we get everything completely worked out on the buses that we have here.  So, we feel good about that, it is just a process that we are going through.” The mayor says city administrators are working closely with Proterra to get the new all-electric buses on the roads as soon as possible. “Seneca Planning and Community Development Director Ed Halbig has been in communication with Proterra.  We actually have someone here that works with those buses through all this training session where we are making sure everything is OK, so there is actually someone that is here that is working real closely with us.” No timetable has been given on when the new CAT buses will debut, concludes Mayor Alexander. “I don’t know when we will come out with a time when we are going to start back up, but right now they are going to make sure everything is just right before we take the other buses off the route and put these on, so we are still working through that and we will get it done.” No passengers are riding the new all-electric buses; however, those future buses are on the roads shadowing the present diesel buses.