Foothill Transit is the primary bus transportation provider in the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) stipulates that buses purchased with federal funds must remain in service for 12 years or 500,000 miles, whichever comes first. In 2008, Foothill Transit had 40 buses that reached that threshold and an additional 42 that were eligible for retirement within the next two years. These 82 buses comprised the last of the diesel-fueled buses in the Foothill Transit Fleet. As such, Foothill Transit staff sought board direction to purchase new North American Bus Industries (NABI) compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to incrementally replace the aging diesel coaches. A contract was awarded to NABI in September 2008. Foothill Transit anticipates that the agency will have a fully alternative-fuel fleet by 2013.
6780000
The new transit buses are NABI 42-foot Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicles. Each of the buses is equipped with the Cummins ISL G natural gas engine, which currently represents the state-of-the-art for CNG transit buses. Delivery of the 12 CNG buses took place in mid-2009 and the buses were placed into service in August 2010.
This project sought to retire old diesel buses and replace them with new, state-of-the-art CNG buses equipped with low-emission natural gas engines. A total of 12 new CNG buses were purchased by Foothill Transit - these buses operate out of Foothill Transit;s Arcadia Operations and Maintenance Facility.
The 12 buses have operated reliably and no major issues have been experienced to date. The new buses have much lower emissions compared to the older diesel buses they replaced, resulting in significant reductions in smog forming exhaust emissions, including hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions. Also, CNG buses emit no diesel exhaust particulate, a toxic air contaminant and known carcinogen. Finally, CNG fuel has a lower carbon content as compared to conventional fuels such as diesel and gasoline - the fleet of new CNG buses is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their 12 year life by greater than 17 million pounds.
The 12 buses are currently operating daily in revenue service. Each bus accrues approximately 60,000 miles annually and consumes approximately 17,000 gasoline equivalent gallons of CNG fuel.