Kinetic scores Dunedin electric bus contract

In Dunedin, New Zealand, 37 new electric buses will join the city's public transport network. The buses are part of two significant network contracts for electric bus services awarded to Australia-based multinational bus company Kinetic by the Otago Regional Council (ORC), with a combined value of NZD100 million. Kinetic's regional Go Bus brand will deliver the zero-emission bus rollout under the new nine-year contracts beginning October 2026.

Kinetic electric bus dunedin zealand — Image: Kinetic

The 37 new Go Bus electric buses joining the Dunedin public transport network will bring the city’s Kinetic-operated zero-emission fleet to 53 vehicles.

Kinetic, an Australian-based multinational bus company, wholly owns a number of bus operations in Australia and New Zealand, including the SkyBus business, operating bus services to a number of airports in both countries. The Group’s 51%-owned subsidiary Go-Ahead Group is based in the United Kingdom, while Kinetic also operates buses and railway services in Singapore, Germany, Ireland, and Norway, as well as the U-Go Mobility joint venture in Sydney.

Having heavily invested in purpose-built and electrified depot infrastructure globally, Kinetic operates over 1,500 zero-emission buses across 33 electrified depots worldwide. This includes Australasia’s largest all-electric bus depot at New Lynn in Auckland and New Zealand’s first large-scale overhead gantry charging system at Auckland’s Glenfield.

Kinetic Group CEO Michael Sewards said the expansion of the electric bus fleet in Dunedin demonstrates the company’s “ongoing investment in zero-emission public transport infrastructure globally.”

“We don’t just operate contracts – we invest in the depots, charging infrastructure and fleet needed to make zero-emission transport possible,” said Mr Sewards.

wearekinetic.com