“Finally, there’s a little bit of sex appeal in our rail sector,” says Josipa Petrunic, CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium, a non-profit devoted to sustainable transportation options. “We, as Canadians, have just been desperately underserved by rail. We’ve let it atrophy. And TransPod is at the highest end of passenger-rail innovation.”

The Canadian government is investing in the electrification of Saskatoon’s bus fleet, announcing $420,000 in funding to plan for the electrification of Saskatoon Transit’s bus fleet. Through this investment, Saskatoon Transit will create a five-step strategy that will examine costs, assess risks and benefits, and identify the infrastructure and internal resources needed to transition to a low-carbon fleet.

Mississauga and the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium have already taken steps to develop a first-of-its-kind pilot project that would see 10 hydrogen FCEBs introduced to their MiWay fleet and help the city get one step closer to decarbonizing its bus system. This pilot will kick-start the development of Canada’s first local hydrogen ecosystem, capitalizing on a national network of manufacturing, production, knowledge innovation, and design.