MTA Deploys All-Electric Bus Fleet On Harlem's M60 Route

HARLEM, NY — The MTA will roll out its fleet of all-electric buses on Harlem's M60 line to test the new vehicles on one of the city's longest bus routes, transit officials announced on West 125th Street Wednesday.

The M60 route, which takes passengers from Laguardia Airport in Queens to Broadway and West 106th street via a long stretch on West 125th Street, will be the toughest challenge yet for the electric buses, MTA officials said. Distance on the route is 20 miles round-trip, and the electric batteries on the bus have a range between 50 to 90 miles depending on factors such as traffic, weather and passenger load.

The MTA ordered 15 of the zero-emission buses in January, and deployed four of the vehicles on the M14 line in Lower Manhattan. The fifth bus to be delivered to the MTA will be deployed on the M60 line, transit officials said. Buses will be charged at the Michael J. Quill Bus Depot on West 41st Street and 11th Avenue, mta officials said.

"We’re very excited to bring our newest bus, an all-electric articulated vehicle, to the M60 Select Bus Service route where our Harlem and Astoria customers can benefit from its quieter, greener, zero-emissions technology," Craig Cipriano, Acting President of MTA Bus Company, said in a statement. “With this new M60 pilot program on one of our longest service routes, we will test the range of the new fleet and the durability of the electric battery technology."

Cipriano added that data gleaned from the electric bus pilot on the M60 line will help the MTA form its plans to roll out more electric buses throughout the city in coming years. The MTA plans to purchase 500 electric buses as part of the 2020-2024 Capital Plan with the goal of an all-electric fleet by 2020.

Environmental advocacy group WE ACT for Environmental Justice hailed the MTA's decision to bring electric buses to Harlem, a neighborhood with one of the worst asthma rates in New York City.

"We celebrate the MTA’s shift to electric buses, and are particularly pleased that they have chosen Harlem’s 125th Street as one of the first routes," Cecil Corbin-Mark, Deputy Director of WE ACT, said in a statement. "Transportation is New York City’s second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and for far too long our community has had to bear a disproportionate amount of air pollution from buses, with six of the MTA’s seven Manhattan bus depots located north of 100th Street."