Mona Vale depot was scheduled to be operational with electric buses by early this year. It has not been converted, and is one of four Sydney depots that missed that target, according to internal Transport for NSW documents.
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The documents show 10 of the 14 Sydney bus depots earmarked for electrification are running behind the agency’s own internal targets. Alongside Mona Vale, the depots at Kingsgrove, Leichhardt and Taren Point also missed plans to be converted by early 2026.
Sixty-nine electric buses destined for the Kingsgrove depot were placed into temporary storage at locations across Sydney and at the manufacturer’s yard. Transport for NSW attributed this to contract and program delays in converting the depot, performance issues with the buses, and the timing of purchase orders. The agency confirmed that a number of electric buses were kept out of service due to depot infrastructure timing and the need for manufacturer warranty rectifications.
Four additional depots, Menai, North Sydney, Smeaton Grange and South Granville, have not met targets for upgrade works to be well underway. Waverley has been only partially converted. Upgrades at Willoughby have not yet begun, and work at Randwick has been delayed significantly. A new $230 million depot at Macquarie Park was due to have begun construction in the third quarter of last year and be completed by late 2026. Construction began only several weeks ago and is not expected to be finished until sometime in 2028.
Of the 14 depots in the program, Brookvale is the only one to have completed its conversion, at a cost of $25 million. Penrith is expected to follow this year.
Transport for NSW said timelines for the first stage of the program had been refined as the scale and complexity of converting operational depots became clearer. The agency pointed to major power supply upgrades, planning requirements, and the need to maintain existing bus services from the same locations during construction. It noted that many of the depots are older facilities, each presenting distinct technical and operational challenges when retrofitting electric charging infrastructure.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the delays indicated the program had not been adequately planned before buses were procured, and that without functional charging infrastructure in place, the new vehicles could not be put into service.
Transport Minister John Graham said the rollout of 1,700 electric buses was proceeding in a methodical way, informed by lessons learnt to date. He said decisions made under the previous administration had included ordering buses before the necessary depot charging connections were in place.
Transport for NSW noted that 99 electric buses had been ordered for the Kingsgrove depot before the zero-emission bus program formally began in 2023, and that the depot had initially been planned for partial electrification with remaining work to follow later.
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Currently, 285 of the 575 electric buses ordered are in service. The remaining 290 are scheduled for delivery by June next year. In addition, more than 900 electric buses are planned for delivery before the end of 2028.
Published 6-June-2026
