Mississauga transit users could be getting on new electric-diesel vehicles soon, after the city recently introduced 10 hybrid buses to its MiWay fleet.

JUST THE FACTS

According to city staff, four of the new buses went into service on Oct. 16, and four others are being readied for service and expected to hit Mississauga streets around the middle of November. Two of the 10 buses are being held back to train MiWay operators on the new vehicles.

Each bus cost $913,043 or $9.13 million for all 10.

The buses engines shut down when stopped, and automatically restart when the brake is released, helping save the city up to 25 per cent in fuel. According to a release, the buses can also be converted to run entirely on battery power.

The introduction of lower carbon emission vehicles are part of Mississauga’s plans to reduce greenhouse gases in the city by 80 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050.

In 2015, 67 per cent of greenhouse gases produced by the city’s operations came from its transit fleet, including buses and corporate vehicles.

There are more hybrid buses coming to MiWay. The city plans to buy 11 60-foot hybrid buses in 2020.

Mississauga’s climate action plan also calls for 282 hybrid buses to join MiWay’s fleet before 2027, at a cost of $84.6 million. The same number of fully electric buses are called for in the plan prior to 2029 at cost of $169.2 million.

The city also included $359.7 million for hybrid buses as part of Mississauga’s allotment for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, a federal initiative that includes funding for transit projects.