New Zealand’s oldest mobile library service will keep on rolling.
The wheels on Dunedin’s book bus are now turning round and round with environmentally friendly electricity.
The Dunedin City Council’s first fully electric book bus, named "Te Pahi Pukapuka", was unveiled yesterday.
It will transport more than 2000 books to readers across the city while helping the council to reach its zero carbon 2030 goal.
The new vehicle was built by Global Bus Ventures.
Production manager Sam Wilson said the project took about two years to complete.
He was pleased to finally see the bus take to the streets.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said he was an avid reader and was pleased that the new space was "ready to go".
"I expect to see people lined up on the footpath waiting to get their books."
Dunedin City Council community services general manager Simon Pickford said compared with the two other book buses servicing Dunedin, the new addition was more accessible.
The bus was equipped with a wheelchair-accessible ramp and would be able to "kneel" for passengers, shortening the distance they would need to step up from the kerb on to the bus.
The new vehicle cost $693,000.
The bus was decorated with a design by Dunedin artist Aroha Novak based on the story of the taniwha Matamata — said to be the kaitiaki (guardian) of Kāti Māmoe (a local iwi) chief Te Rakitauneke — and features pīwakawaka (fantail) in the skies above.
Ms Novak said the new book bus would become a version of Matamata as it travelled to communities around Dunedin.
A second electric vehicle was planned to replace one of the two remaining diesel book buses later this year.
The other diesel vehicle would be decommissioned.
