Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) green fleet plan is on track to produce zero emissions by their target date of 2040.

TransformTO is a citywide plan to reduce all emissions in the city to net zero by 2040. The current goal is 10 years earlier than originally pitched for the strategy.

Being a part of the city, the TTC has been following the strategy by slowly eliminating the largest producer of emissions from services, buses. At a TTC board meeting, Bem Case, Executive Director of Innovation and Sustainability at the TTC, presented that the TTC is on track to meet their goal. The only thing that they need to remain steady is funding, they say.

“We need to procure an average of 155 per year. That's just to maintain current service levels with additional buses required to grow capacity and meet projected demand,” says Case. “The TTC will need yet unsecured funding for the additional 60 buses required in 2025. Of the 2875 buses required by 2040 only. Only 250 of those are for growth.”

In 2019, the fleet of buses made up 80 per cent of the TTC’s total fleet of services with all buses running on diesel fuel. The buses tailpipe emissions made up 97 per cent of the TTC’s emissions.

For the TTC to completely convert their fleet to electric, Case says they need 2,875 electric buses by 2040. Currently, they have received funding for 400 electric buses, with 290 coming in 2025. These purchases have the TTC on track to meet their goal of 20 per cent zero emissions vehicles by 2025.

Phasing out diesel buses in exchange for hybrid and electric buses is the TTC’s current plan, Case says the TTC should expect the last diesel bus to be phased out in 2032. Hitting the zero net emissions requires the TTC to replace all buses with electric vehicles. Case says that if they keep on track, the total move to electric buses will be in 2037.

“Through the Green Bus program, we took delivery of our last fully diesel bus in July of 2018. And in that same month introduced the first hybrid electric bus in February of 2022,” says Case. “We awarded contracts for 336. Hybrids planned for delivery in 2023 and 2024. As of Nov. 30, 214 of those 336 had been delivered, and 142 are in service. The hybrid bus reduces emissions by 47% and offers a just transition for skilled workers operating and maintaining buses.”

More information on the TTC’s Green Initiatives can be found here.