BC Transit CNG Buses (Image: CFJC Today)
The City of Kamloops in British Columbia was delighted to learn from its Development and Engineering Services Department that the switch to CNG buses has achieved payback for the City in year one, much quicker than the four-year payback period projected in the 2013 business case. Now more CNG buses are planned.
Based on the success of the Nanaimo and Kamloops CNG pilot programs, BC Transit is expanding the percentage of CNG buses in the provincial fleet program and has advised the City that BC Transit wishes to replace the remaining 19 diesel buses in the Kamloops fleet with new CNG buses. This means that all 44 heavy-duty buses in the Kamloops fleet will be CNG buses by as early as July 2017.
In June 2015, the City replaced 25 of Kamloops Transit’s heavy-duty diesel transit buses with CNG buses. Despite significantly lower-than-anticipated diesel prices, the CNG buses have continued to operate at a lower net cost than their diesel counterparts. The operational savings from the first year of running the 25 new CNG buses completely offset the initial increase in debt service fees.
For example, according to a report to the city’s Governing Council, one clear difference between key projections in the 2013 business case and the 2015-2016 actual value was the CNG fleet maintenance cost; the business case projected $0.79/km, but actual costs averaged approximately $0.30/km.
The replacement of the remaining 19 heavy-duty diesel buses with CNG buses is projected to result in an operational cost savings to the City of approximately $290,000 in 2017.
(Source: City of Kamloops)
