Various options for the hydrogen buses
BC Transit is now taking bids on the buses and will either sell them off or have them converted to use diesel or other fuel. They have been in storage for several months and each has roughly 200,000 kilometres on the odometer.
In a written release, BC Transit said it's exploring various options for the hydrogen buses, and its bidding process closes on Dec. 19. It declined a request for an interview from CBC News.
The decision to kill the fleet has Canada's hydrogen proponents fuming, including Eric Denhoff, President and CEO of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association.
He is highly critical of BC Transit's decision, saying they should have kept the buses on the road as a demonstration project, despite their higher operating costs.
"Even if there was a bit of additional cost to running these things, you now have to go out and buy 20 new diesel buses to replace them, so I don't understand how the math on that works," said Denhoff.
He says electric trolley buses also cost more than diesels, but TransLink manages to keep a large fleet of them on the road in order to further other goals, such as reducing pollution.