The city of Roseville could build a $4.3 million zero-emissions bus depot at its existing corporation yard as early as this spring.
City staff have recommended an approval of the project to the Roseville City Council, which meets on Wednesday.
A new depot is part of the city’s Roseville Transit zero-emission business plan, approved a year ago, according to a staff report.
The depot would house 30 bus stalls, with nine of them set up for electric bus charging now, and the rest of them prepared to be charging stations for the future. The project would also upgrade an existing light-duty vehicle garage with five electric vehicle chargers.
In August, the city approved the $4.8 million purchase of five California-built electric buses. Those five are 40-foot versions of transit buses built by Proterra Inc., an electric vehicle technology company based in Burlingame. Proterra (Nasdaq: PTRA) has been making electric buses since 2008.
The first five electric buses will handle the commuter route Roseville Transit operates to Downtown Sacramento. The city's transit agency also operates 15 other buses for routes through the city. Those will be upgraded to electric vehicles over time.
The city will also benefit from a lower cost of fuel, since the city runs its own municipal electric utility, Roseville Electric.
Roseville’s staff report said the depot project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires documentation, mitigation, hearings and environmental reporting.
