NJ Transit new electric bus infrastructure at Newton Avenue, Camden

Tri-County Sustainability was honored to join U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross, NJ TRANSIT Board Member & Cherry Hill Councilwoman Sangeeta Doshi, NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin Corbett, Senior Vice President, Surface Transportation and General Manager of Bus Operations Michael Kilcoyne and Chairman/ATU NJ State Council Orlando Riley, Assemblyman Bill Moen, Commissioner Jeff Nash and Mayor Vic Carstarphen to celebrate the completion of the agency’s electric bus charging infrastructure at the Newton Avenue Bus Garage in Camden.

Background: In September 2020, NJ TRANSIT’s Board of Directors awarded a $3.235 million contract to Scalfo Electric of Vineland to renovate the Newton Avenue Bus Garage with electric vehicle charging stations and other associated infrastructure modifications. This completion of the charging infrastructure construction at this facility is the basis for this event.

In October 2021, NJ TRANSIT’s Board of Directors approved a $9.4 million contract with New Flyer of America for the purchase of eight 40-foot battery electric buses. The contract includes options allowing the purchase of up to 75 additional zero-emissions buses. The first bus is expected to arrive in June 2022, and the remaining seven will be delivered by the end of this year when they will begin to enter revenue service.

The Camden project is a first of its kind initiative for NJ TRANSIT, which will test electric buses in real world conditions on specific NJ TRANSIT routes. This will provide invaluable data and information on the effects of weather, passenger volume, road conditions and other factors on electric bus performance, including travel distance available between recharging. The project will also review the infrastructure resources and work required to modernize NJ TRANSIT’s bus garages to accept new charging stations, and the significantly greater power feeds needed to energize them. This project also will help NJ TRANSIT understand how to accomplish the fleet and garage infrastructure upgrades without disrupting the regular daily service our customers rely on.

This project was identified in NJ TRANSIT’s 5-Year Capital Plan and supports NJ TRANSIT’s commitment to achieving full transition to 100% zero-emission bus fleet by 2040 aligned with Governor Murphy’s Energy Master Plan.