Zero Emission Buses

Reviewed

Project overview

Zero Emission Buses is a multi-billion dollar program to transition the state’s 8,000 plus diesel and natural gas public transport buses to zero emissions technology. This transition delivers on the NSW Government’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and to provide more comfortable journeys and liveable places for our passengers and communities.

The program will be delivered in stages to allow local industry time to prepare, and technology advancements to be assessed and adopted along the way. Under the Zero Emission Buses Transition Plan, the transition will be complete in Greater Sydney by 2035, in Outer Metropolitan regions by 2040, and in Regional NSW by 2047.

The first stage of the transition will begin in 2023 and will introduce 1,200 new electric buses for Greater Sydney customers by 2028. As part of the first stage, 11 existing bus depots will be upgraded to support the new fleet and a new bus depot will be built in Macquarie Park. Along with planned new electric buses and those already in service, there will be around 1,700 zero emission buses expected to be operating on Sydney roads by the end of 2028.

In partnership with industry, we will transition our bus fleet in stages to ensure the latest advances in technology are considered before we begin each new stage. 

We understand there will be challenges as we manage a transition of this size. To make sure our transition plan becomes a reality, we continue to work closely with leaders in the energy, manufacturing, transport operations, financing, and education sectors.

In NSW, diesel and compressed natural gas buses make up most of Transport’s direct carbon emissions. 

So, transitioning our buses is an important place for us to start, and an area we can lead by example as the transport sector transitions towards zero emissions.

Transport is working closely with regional and outer metropolitan bus and coach operators to undertake a series of zero emission bus trials in regional NSW over a three-year period, commencing in 2023.   These trials will be conducted using different battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell zero emission bus technologies in a range of environments across the regions, to understand which technology best suits regional and remote service needs.

    Industry announcements

    To support industry planning and readiness for zero emission buses, we invite the industry to connect and engage through our Bus Industry Collaboration Portal.  

    Register your interest as a program industry partner to post ideas, collaboration opportunities or requests to the wider industry. 

    To ensure the effective use of the portal we request industry portal registrations be limited to one person per company. 

    Keep in touch

    To get in touch with the project team email zeroemissionbuses@transport.nsw.gov.au

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