Hydrogen Bus Purchases Reflect Broken Systems, Not Bribes - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica addresses the recurring question of why hydrogen buses continue to be purchased despite their operational struggles compared to battery electric buses, which have proven successful in many cities. It argues that these decisions are often mistakenly attributed to corruption or bribery. Instead, the root causes lie in systemic issues such as institutional structures, delegated authority, misaligned incentives, legal lobbying, cognitive biases, and entrenched industrial policies. Most transit agency personnel act with good intentions but face organizational and strategic limitations that hinder optimal technology evaluation. Public transit agencies are primarily designed for operational efficiency—running buses on time, ensuring safety, managing labor, and budgeting—rather than conducting strategic assessments of emerging propulsion technologies. Since the last major transition in transit propulsion occurred decades ago, agencies lack the institutional expertise to thoroughly compare the costs, infrastructure needs, and risks of new technologies like hydrogen versus battery electric buses. Consequently, agencies often defer to national or regional authorities for guidance. In many cases, these higher-level bodies promoted hydrogen due