The city of Oslo plans to have a fully-electric public transport network by 2023. The next goal is to become the world’s first emissions-free city by 2030
The status of sustainable transport in Oslo
Oslo was the 2019 European Green Capital. This award came after decades of climate initiatives.
Oslo was the first city in the world with its own Climate Budget. It has made considerable public transportation and bicycle infrastructure investments and is a world leader in electric vehicles (EVs).
To encourage the sale of electric models, the Norwegian government has been offering financial incentives, the majority of which came in the form of significant tax cuts.
The result was that in 2020, of the 141,000 passenger cars registered for the first time, fifty-four percent only had an electric motor (Statistisk sentralbyrå).
In the future, the government might roll these incentives back to motivate Norwegian residents to walk, cycle, and take public transport instead of their private vehicles.
Norwegian Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygard
In a statement from spring 2022, the Norwegian Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygard highlighted how electric cars have an intermodal competition with public transport in urban areas and the need to make the latter more attractive along with cycling and walking.
The use has increased in Oslo, where the company Ruter coordinates, orders, markets, and plans public transport.
In the ten years between 2007 and 2017, the area’s number of public transport trips rose from 228 million to 371 million, a sixty-three percent increase. In 2017 alone, the capital city saw a rise in the use of public transport of six-point-one percent. That same year, fifty-six percent of public transport ran on renewable energy (Ruter).
The public transport in Oslo is known to be efficient, and the city plans on making it all-electric.
«Public transport will have zero-emissions in 2028. In Ruter, about twenty-five percent of the boat fleet is zero-emission. In 2025, so will be about sixty percent of our buses. In 2028, 100 percent of our buses and all of our boats will be zero-emissions. We have three boat services, two of them are already electrified, and the third one will be electrified by 2024». Said Snorre Lægran, Ruter’s Planning Director.
Snorre Lægran: When was this initiative first discussed?
«In 2012, 10 years ago, Ruter published a report which pointed to the potential of using zero-emission buses to cut a large number of emissions, and after that, we did market research in 2014 and 2015. In 2017 we made a zero-emission strategy that said that it is possible to get to zero-emission in 2028. So, it’s been a ten years’ journey since our first report». Explained Lægran.
«We started this electric journey with a pilot project. We invited three operators to have two buses each, which was part of a change order in existing contracts. So, they bought different types of buses and charging infrastructure and shared knowledge: this is how we could get as much experience as possible. Then in the next project, we had seventy-seven buses in change orders. Then we had even more experience with the two tests and, of course, with other countries and cities, so the operators had reduced risks. So in 2019, we will have a good amount of electric buses, which has continued. We change the buses in our fleet when we have outgoing contracts; we don’t sell or throw away good buses».
How is this initiative being achieved on a technical level?
«We don’t own our buses, we have, however, procurement for about 10-12 years, and then we set a functional requirement. Then it’s up to the operators to choose the buses and charging infrastructure and have full responsibility for charging them. We are responsible for putting the high voltage power into the bus depot. We rebuilt the boats and put in electric engines in two out of the three boat services with change orders in existing contracts».
When will Oslo’s public transport system be fully electric?
The city of Oslo plans to have a fully-electric public transport network by 2023. The capital city has another ambitious short-term goal: becoming the world’s first emissions-free city by 2030.
«We will electrify the whole Ruter system within 2028. But within the capital, Oslo, it will be electrified by 2023 because Ruter is owned by Oslo city and the neighboring county. So the Oslo part will be fully electrified by 2023. That of the country around Oslo will be electrified by 2028».
Is the city of Oslo focusing solely on the complete electrification of public transport?
In the ‘Climate strategy for Oslo towards 2030’ (Klimastrategi for Oslo mot 2030), walking, cycling, and public transport are indicated as Oslo’s future first choices for transportation. By 2030, car traffic has to be reduced by a third compared to 2015, with a twenty percent sub-target by 2023.
By 2030, all passenger cars on Oslo’s roads must be emission-free. Public transport must be emission-free in 2028, and all heavy vehicles in Oslo must be emission-free or use sustainable renewable fuels by 2030. Port operations and traffic on the fjord will have to be virtually emission-free.
This goal is based on needs beyond climate, such as better air quality, less congestion in the city center and residential areas, and better road traffic safety. Significant health benefits come with increased walking and cycling, and fulfilling these goals facilitates better public health and a more human-friendly urban development.
Why is Oslo trying to achieve a public transit system that is entirely electric?
Providing quality public transport is key to mitigating climate change and improving residents’ quality of life.
In Europe, transport is a critical climate issue as it generates twenty-seven percent of the area’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (European Environment Agency 2017). In the bloc, one-third of all final energy is utilized by transport. As oil is the chief source of this energy, transport is a significant driver of climate change in the EU. Cars, buses, trucks, and vans are responsible for more than seventy percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.
Transport is linked to air pollution, as motor vehicles release air pollutants for the most part through the exhaust fumes coming out of the tailpipe. Pollutants released by transport, like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM), harm our health and the environment. More than two-thirds of all NOx emissions come from transport, which is responsible for about ten percent or more of the total emissions of other pollutants.
What other initiatives is the city working on to become a zero-emissions city?
This initiative is part of a broader plan, as the city is pursuing other climate objectives as part of the ‘Climate strategy for Oslo towards 2030’ (Klimastrategi for Oslo mot 2030). In terms of direct emissions, by 2030 Oslo intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by ninety-five percent compared to 2009, with a partial target of fifty-two percent by 2023.
The city plans to become more climate resistant, strengthen its ability to withstand climate change, and develop to prepare for the expected changes until 2100. Forest and land are another focus area in the plan, and the city wants to manage its nature so that natural carbon stores in vegetation and soil are protected. According to the program, the absorption of greenhouse gases in forests and other vegetation is supposed to increase by 2030.
According to the strategy, Oslo’s energy consumption is supposed to have been reduced in 2030 by ten percent compared to 2009. Regarding its indirect emissions, Oslo intends to lower its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions outside the municipality by 2030 compared to 2020.
Ruter
It plans, coordinates, orders and markets public transport in Oslo and former Akershus (now part of Viken county). The transport services are performed by various operating companies on their behalf.
