After a week delay, Long Beach Transit unveiled its new zero emissions battery-powered electric buses Monday at a press conference in downtown Long Beach.
The $11 million project, which consists of 10 new buses and a wireless charging system, was voted on and passed in April of 2015 by the LBT governing board. According to LBT, the initial unveiling was canceled after Gov. Jerry Brown’s office announced that he would be in Long Beach to sign legislation mandating strict emissions reductions.
The buses, manufactured by the Chinese automobile company BYD Motors, were designed to produce zero emissions, while the batteries on each bus are supposed to have a charge that lasts 150 hours — about a day’s worth of transit.
“This is great for Long Beach,” junior economics major Sarah Rollins said. “To be able to take initiative to help the environment is always good in my book.”
According to LBT, the buses are expected to be in service in November and seven of the buses will be put on the Passport Route, which takes passengers to locations in downtown Long Beach and Long Beach’s Shoreline area free of charge. The other three will be on various other routes that have yet to be announced.
Along with its introduction of the new buses, LBT announced Friday that the AquaLink water taxi will be extending its Friday and Saturday hours due to rising demand.
“The AquaLink has been even more popular this year,” Kevin Lee, Long Beach Transit spokesman said in an email. “We are seeing more customers wanting to use it later even during the late season, so we decided to extend the service.”
With an increase to 1,600 customers during a time where LBT usually sees a drop in customers, the surge prompted an extension of hours.
The late-season AquaLink schedule, which is in effect Friday through Sunday, will move its last departure from Alamitos Bay Landing from 6:20 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The trip takes about an hour to travel from Alamitos Bay Landing to Aquarium of the Pacific with two stops in between at the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier and The Queen Mary.
The AquaLink connects The Queen Mary and Aquarium of the Pacific riders to east Long Beach locations such as the Belmont Pier and Alamitos Bay Landing. The one-way fee is $5.
“Knowing there’s an option to avoid traffic on weekends and use this alternative is awesome,” senior sociology major Ryan Wells said. “I know there will be a lot of Pokemon Go users [who] frequent that area [who] are going to be happy to have this available later [in the evening].”