A technical fault with the e-bus caused it to stop in Cumberland St yesterday afternoon, the Otago Regional Council confirmed.
‘‘Unfortunately, it was during a run of the bus on the motorway, on Route 77 to Mosgiel, and during the early afternoon peak,’’ transport manager Garry Maloney said.
The breakdown came a day after the trial was launched.
‘‘The fault was quickly identified and was unrelated to the electric function of the bus,’’ Mr Maloney said.
It was something that could happen to any bus, he said.
‘‘A replacement bus was deployed very quickly and we apologise for the inconvenience to passengers.’’
The trial of the Enviroline 35-seater, manufactured in New Zealand by Global Bus Ventures, will finish on October 29.
Global Bus Ventures hoped to get the bus back into service as soon as possible.
‘‘The e-bus manufacturing team are in Dunedin for this very reason, as we test the bus on various routes, although this particular issue was unexpected,’’ Mr Maloney said.
‘‘These kinds of issues are all a part of running a trial and part of the learning process.’’
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Comments
What exactly happened to the bus, please explain.
Supposed to be testing the bus on Dunedin's hills but it is running almost the easist run they could find, along the flat, over two easy hills on the motorway. How about running the Brockville run for a wek and see how long the batteries actually run for?
Or is the intention to ensure the test doesn't fail?