Youth art to decorate Waiheke Island’s e-buses

Six of eight electric buses bought by Fullers360 are due on Waiheke Island roads by early November, all expected to feature art from local youngsters.

To celebrate the arrival of Waiheke’s first electric buses, Fullers360 and Auckland Transport are launching a youth art competition, asking residents aged five to 18 to illustrate a zero emissions future on the island with winning entries displayed on the back of the e-buses.

“The shift to electric is a significant milestone for Waiheke Island residents and we can’t think of a better way to mark the occasion than encouraging budding young artists to literally paint a greener future for us through this competition,” Fullers360 chief executive Mike Horne says.

The school art competition closes on October 16 and winners will be selected by the Waiheke Community Art Gallery director.

The school art contest and confirmation of the e-buses was announced on September 21 to mark Zero Emissions Day.

The Waiheke Bus Company will run the e-buses, making Waiheke Island the first suburb in Auckland to operate an electric bus fleet as the company starts replacing its diesel buses.

The other two electric buses will join the fleet in December and the remaining nine diesel buses in the 17-strong fleet will be replaced as they reach their end of life.

“Vehicle emissions make up more than 40% of Auckland’s carbon emissions, so electrifying the Waiheke Island bus fleet to create a more sustainable public transport network will help us reduce overall emissions and further progress our climate change goals,” Auckland mayor Phil Goff says.

“Earlier this month Auckland Council also rolled out the first electric recycling collection vehicle on Waiheke, so it’s great to see the island taking another step forward in its goal to becoming all electric by 2030.”

Horne say the first six electric buses coming to Waiheke will see a reduction of about 538 tCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions annually there.

This potential reduction is equivalent to 718 typical New Zealand homes’ electricity use for one year.

“Despite the impacts of COVID-19, Fullers360 remains steadfast in our ambition to grow a larger, more effective, and sustainable transport network,” Horne says.

“Our investment in the electric buses is part of our vision to operate an environmentally-friendly transport service on and off the water.”

The e-buses each carry 37 passengers and will go into service on the existing Auckland Transport Island route and can travel up to 400km on a single charge.

They produce zero emissions and are very quiet in comparison to diesel buses.

“Auckland Transport, together with Fullers360, is proud to be ushering in a new era of green bus transportation on the Island – marking a significant step in our acceleration of the Low Emission Bus Roadmap and working towards the goals of Auckland’s Climate Action Plan,” AT bus services manager Darek Koper says.

The art contest entry form is available from AT, or visit Fullers website and AT

for more e-bus details.