LA Metro deploys America’s largest CNG-powered transit bus fleet.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a provider of natural gas (CNG and LNG) for transportation in North America, has secured a new 10-year contract from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) to upgrade, operate and maintain CNG bus fueling facilities supporting two METRO operating divisions. Over the next 12 months, Clean Energy will reconfigure and upgrade CNG station compressor equipment at METRO stations that supply CNG bus fleets deployed in the agency’s Los Angeles Central and South Bay divisions. Between the two divisions, the CNG fuel requirement is expected to exceed nine million gallons (diesel equivalent) per year.
METRO currently operates North America’s largest CNG-powered transit bus fleet. The agency’s more than 2,500 clean-burning CNG buses comprise 95% of its overall fleet. METRO secured grant funding for this CNG station upgrade project from the federal program created by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
James Harger, Clean Energy’s Chief Marketing Officer, said, “We are pleased to be selected by METRO and expand our working relationship with them to support their operation of the nation’s largest clean-air bus fleet. They are the clear leader today among U.S. transit operators that are taking accelerated action to operate their bus fleets on clean-burning CNG.”
Compared to conventional diesel buses, natural gas-powered transit buses help maintain environmental quality by producing significantly less harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
METRO deploys buses on 191 fixed routes in a 1,433-square-mile service area in Los Angeles County. More than 9.6 million persons — nearly one-third of California’s residents — live and work in L.A. County. In fiscal year 2009, passenger boardings of METRO buses totaled more than 365 million.
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