KUCHING: The Sarawak government should review its proposed use of hydrogen fuel cell buses for the Kuching autonomous rapid transit (ART) public transport system because of high costs, the state assembly heard.
Chong Chieng Jen (PH-Padungan) cited 10 city authorities worldwide that ran trials on the use of hydrogen buses and failed.
They included Perth in Australia, Vancouver (Canada), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Hamburg and Wiesbaden (Germany), and Pau and Montpellier (France).
"All these city authorities tried out hydrogen buses for their public transport but finally dropped them and switched to electric buses.
"The main reason is that the operation of hydrogen buses is many times more expensive than electric buses," Chong said when debating the 2025 state budget in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (Nov 13).
As such, he called on the state government to consider replacing the proposed hydrogen buses with electric buses.
"Prudent financial planning should take into consideration the cost-benefit factor of any programme," he added.
It was previously reported that hydrogen buses will be used in a feeder bus network to provide first- and last-mile connectivity to the ART system.
The ART, which forms the backbone of the Kuching Urban Transport System project, will also use hydrogen-powered vehicles in line with the state's efforts to decarbonise public transport.
