Metro hopes new electric buses will arrive in Launceston by Christmas

Metro's Launceston depot is holding out for the pre-Christmas delivery of three battery electric buses (BEBs), which are expected to hit city streets before 2024.

The trial will last two years and will cost the state government $6 million.

Hobart is likely to wait a further six months before it can test three new hydrogen fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs), which will cost $11.3 million to trial across a three-year period.

Metro chief executive Katie Cooper said staff were beginning to plan which routes the buses would take, and how to train drivers in operating the new technology.

"They'll be wrapped and branded so that people will be able to see [them]," Ms Cooper said.

"But one of the real differences for customers is they're silent.

"If you consider a diesel bus, you can hear it rumbling along the road ... so it's an interesting concept around how customers will need to adjust. On board it'll be lovely, but for people crossing roads you don't actually hear the bus."

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Metro Tasmania has about 240 buses in its fleet, including 118 that were manufactured in the North-West between 2017 and 2023.

The fleet has an average age of between eight and nine years.

Buses typically have a 20-year lifespan.

Ms Cooper said the Launceston and Hobart trials would help inform how the company proceeds with updating its fleet in years to come.

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"The whole point of doing a battery electric trial is to learn," she said.

"How long does it take to charge? We've certainly had modelling and forecasting done, but how it'll operate on a summer's day with the air-conditioning compared to a winter's day [will be different].

"Those practical real life things are what we're going to be able to learn and understand so that can help make Metro's long-term investment decisions.

"It might be that we have a few different types [of fuel sources]."

The trials will follow Metro's most recent advertising campaign - targeting antisocial behaviour on buses - which Ms Cooper said had been particularly successful.

Trials are also being done on the merits of driver security screens.

Contemplating the future of the service, Ms Cooper said it was an exciting time for Metro and its customers.

"Transport's in an exciting juncture where we're trying to determine the right way forward," she said.

"The community would like us to go to zero emissions and I think our staff support that ... we just need to make sure we're investing in the right sort of technology."

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