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Canadian Transit Think Tank CUTRIC Captured By Hydrogen Lobby
Hydrogen for buses is like putting square wheels on them, something proven repeatedly globally, but CUTRIC loves them
Is there anything more compelling than free money and supportive guidance from a purported expert organization to a municipal politician? Apparently not, as Mississauga in Canada appears set on joining municipalities around the world in launching a guaranteed-to-fail hydrogen bus pilot. The federal government and the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), are complicit in this impending debacle. This assessment closes with recommendations for Canada, Mississauga and CUTRIC.
Let’s set the stage a bit. The free money is from the Canadian government, which quite sensibly has a $2.75 billion zero emissions transit fund and program to assist municipalities across the country to ditch diesel buses and light rail in favor of transit that doesn’t emit greenhouse gases. (All figures in Canadian dollars.) So far, so good. Change costs money and federal tax dollars assisting with positive change is a very good thing as municipalities were an afterthought in Canada’s constitution, and so despite being the economic engines of the country and holding the vast majority of its population, have very little…
