A last minute reprieve for Wellington's iconic trolley buses is looking unlikely, with power to the buses still being switched off tomorrow.
That's despite fierce opposition against scrapping them, and what was hoped to be a saviour in the new government.
New Minister of Transport Phil Twyford is briefing this afternoon on the situation and says he ultimately wants to see a transition to an all-electric fleet.
The Wellington Regional Council began the job of dismantling the 82 kilometres of wire from around the city earlier this month, which is due to take a full year.
Work on dismantling the rest of the network will start on Wednesday, once life to the buses is switched off tomorrow night.
The council says they are taking the trolley buses away to focus on environmentally-friendly options, with more electric buses due to come into service over time.
They will complete their final journeys at the end of the month after the GWRC ended to stop funding for them.
Next year, the region will get a new fleet of low-emission diesels, as well as 10 electric double-deckers and in the next few years another 22 electric double-deckers will be added.
The council says eventually it wants a fully electric fleet; but it won’t put a time frame on how long they expect that to take.
And there is some criticism that the electric trolley buses will be replaced with diesel until then.
Extra buses will cover for the trolleys until the region's new fleet starts service next July.
NZ Bus said in a statement that Wellington trolley bus drivers will now operate the replacement diesel buses and their jobs will not be impacted.
Bus services will continue as usual along routes once serviced by the trolleys.
A demonstration will also be held tomorrow night outside Unity Books in central Wellington, to farewell the buses and in the hopes the "destruction" of the buses won't go ahead.
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