The NSW Liberal Government has admitted that its rollout of Zero Emissions Buses will take 17 years – or nearly two decades – to roll out across the entire state.

Former Liberal Minister for Transport Andrew Constance originally promised that the entire fleet would be rolled out by 2030.

But the Government has now broken the former Transport Minister’s promise, admitting that they now aimed to electrify all buses in greater Sydney by 2035 – more than 10 years away.

The Government also admitted that it would take until 2047 to electrify the entire fleet – at least 17 years away. 

Premier Dominic Perrottet yesterday said that the project has “fallen short”, Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes said the aim of the project was “To build castles in the sky and then build foundations underneath them” and Transport Minister David Elliott referred to the whole thing as a “Song and dance” and that “there was “no way in the world” that the government would meet the 2030 target.

However, until budget estimates this week, not a single member of the government had come forward and told the public that they were going to break their promise to deliver 8000 zero emissions buses by 2030.

Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Transport Jo Haylen:

“The government’s promise to roll out zero emissions buses by 2030 has become farcical. The Premier makes a massive understatement when he says this project has fallen short. It is 17 years, or almost 2 decades late.

“That means that if you are a 25 year old who uses buses in Wollongong, Newcastle or anywhere else in regional NSW, you might not be able to catch a zero emissions bus until you’re nearly 50.  “This near twenty year delay in the rollout of zero emissions buses creates serious implications for both the future of our bus fleet and for NSW’s future emissions targets.”

JO HAYLEN MP
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT