TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei City is aiming to increase the 336 electric public buses currently serving the city to 400 by the end of this year as the first step towards achieving the ultimate goal of replacing all the diesel-powered public buses with electric ones by 2030, the city’s Department of Transportation said at a press conference to reveal the city’s plan for electric buses on Tuesday (Sept. 20).

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said during the press conference that when the city completes the process of replacing all the diesel buses by 2030, it’s estimated there will be over 3,000 electric buses running in the city, CNA reported.

Before that, there is still a lot of work to do, such as getting charging stations ready, the mayor continued.

He added that Taipei City has planned many measures to promote the deployment of electric buses, including not subsidizing bus companies’ purchases of diesel buses, reserving urban spaces for electric bus depots, and subsidizing bus companies’ operations of electric buses with NT$2.12 (US$0.07) per ride.