Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was among a group of people invited to drive a brand new electric double-decker bus.
Video / Dean Purcell
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has an excellent CV: engineer; property developer; company director; and politician. Now he can add bus driver to his resume.
Mayor Brown was with a group of local politicians invited to drive a brand-new electric double-decker bus for Auckland at the Kinetic south bus depot in Māngere.
He “volunteered” to be first behind the wheel and guided the futuristic vehicle around a course marked by his least favourite things – road cones.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown gets last-minute instruction before taking the bus for a spin. Photo / Dean Purcell
After completing the track, he was congratulated on a job well done by Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson.
“I drive trucks,” Brown retorted as Kinetic director Calum Haslop said he could see that he’d driven large vehicles before.
Kinetic is more than half-way into a plan to decarbonise the Auckland bus fleet with two new fully electric depots and plans to have 152 zero emissions vehicles on Auckland’s roads, part of 250-strong electric fleet across Aotearoa New Zealand by the end of the year.
Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson gets in on the act too. Photo / Dean Purcell
“Our partnership with Auckland Transport is helping the city work towards meeting its climate change targets, while also having an immediate impact on air quality to create a quieter, healthier urban environment for residents,” Haslop said recently. “We will continue partnering with governments and councils to help them meet their climate reduction goals, as we strive to meet our own target for a 100 per cent city electric fleet.”
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown with deputy Mayor Desley Simpson and other council members looking forward to a 100 per cent zero-emission fleet. Photo / Dean Purcell
Auckland Transport director public transport and active modes Stacey van der Putten says the goal for Auckland is to have a 100 per cent zero emission fleet by 2035.
“People tell us they want to choose more sustainable forms of transport, and they love and notice the difference travelling on electric buses and feel like they’re making a more sustainable travel choice,” van der Putten said.
Now they have Brown on board no doubt he’ll be driving Auckland Council to hit the target.
