Biden Administration Announces Over $233.76 Million in CNG Transit Investments
NGVAmerica Worked Through Federal Appropriations Process to Ensure Natural Gas Eligible for Program Funding
Washington, DC – NGVAmerica is proud to announce that over $233.76 million has been awarded by the Biden administration to compressed natural gas (CNG) bus transit projects across the country. Another $44.37 million went to transit agencies where at least a portion will be spent on CNG buses and infrastructure.
The funding is part of a larger announcement made this week by the Federal Transit Administration’s Low- and No-Emission Grant Award program for Fiscal Year 2023.
Of notable awards, Sun Tran in the City of Tucson (AZ) will receive $21.49 million; Dallas Area Rapid Transit (TX) $103 million; Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (TX) $40.4 million; the Utah Transit Authority over $17 million; and Loudon County, VA $13.88 million. The funding is for new CNG buses, fueling infrastructure, and associated maintenance facility improvements.
Funding natural gas transit maximizes the opportunity to deploy more transit buses thereby increasing ridership opportunities and accelerating the retirement of older more polluting buses. Natural gas buses outperform battery electric counterparts on virtually every major assessment mark1:
- Natural gas buses are less costly to purchase, maintain, and operate;
- Natural gas refueling infrastructure is more affordable, efficient, and convenient for transit operators;
- Natural gas buses are more reliable and require fewer days out of service in need of repair, with no compromise on duty or performance in any terrain or weather; and
- Natural gas buses offer the most cost-effective emission reduction investment; operators can affordably achieve carbon-negative transit now by refueling with renewable natural gas (RNG).
The Low-No Program in recent years has proved to be an important factor in assisting transit agencies in upgrading their bus fleets to deploy cleaner, less polluting buses. With the Biden Administration’s added prioritization of addressing climate change and associated environmental justice concerns, the rapid and widespread deployment of affordable and impactful buses must include every qualifying technology commercially available today.
Prior to 2021, FTA did not fully consider low-emission natural gas transit bus applications in the competitive Low-No Grant Program. Through its advocacy work, NGVAmerica secured language in two fiscal year conference agreements that “directs the FTA to implement 49 U.S.C. 5339(c) in a manner that encourages a variety of different fuel types and consider procurements that reduce an agency’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.”2
As a result, FTA began awarding funding to municipalities and transit agencies interested in growing their natural gas transit programs and replacing older CNG buses that have reached the end of their useful life.
Announced FY 2023 recipients and projects with listed CNG investment include:
| State | Project Sponsor | Funding | Description | CNG $ |
| AZ | City of Tucson, Sun Tran | $21,490,560 | The city of Tucson’s Sun Tran transit system will receive funding to buy new compressed natural gas buses to replace older diesel buses. The project will support Sun Tran’s transition to all low- or no-emission vehicles and improve air quality in the Tucson metro region. | $21,490,560 |
| CA | Golden Empire Transit | $5,750,351 | Golden Empire Transit will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses to replace older diesel buses. The new vehicles will be equipped with features such as electronic fare collection systems, collision avoidance software and automatic passenger counters to enhance safety and improve the rider experience and improve the safety and reliability of transit service for residents in Bakersfield. | $5,750,351 |
| CA | State of California on behalf of Kern Regional Transit | $3,248,500 | The State of California, on behalf of Kern Regional Transit, will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses to replace older buses that have exceeded their useful life. These buses will be used for both fixed route and paratransit services. | $3,248,500 |
| CO | Mesa County | $1,162,000 | Mesa County’s Grand Valley Transit will receive funding to buy a compressed natural gas bus to replace an older bus and new cutaway CNG buses for planned transit service expansion. The project will improve service reliability, state of good repair needs and serve a growing demand for transit in the Grand Junction area of western Colorado. | $1,162,000 |
| IN | Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation dba GLPTC | $7,598,425 | The Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation will receive funding to buy fuel cell-electric buses and compressed natural gas buses to replace older buses that have exceeded its useful life, modify its maintenance facility to safely maintain their vehicles as it expands the fleet and install a hydrogen refueling station. The project, which includes a workforce training component, will improve service reliability and state of good repair needs. | |
| MI | Interurban Transit Partnership | $6,197,180 | The Interurban Transit Partnership (The Rapid) will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses to replace aging diesel-fueled buses. The project will improve service and reliability, particularly in disadvantaged communities. | $6,197,180 |
| NC | Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority | $2,860,250 | Wave Transit will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses for the Wilmington region. These low emission buses will replace older diesel vehicles helping to improve air quality. | $2,860,250 |
| OH | Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) on behalf of 10 subrecipients | $29,331,665 | The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will receive funding to support 10 transit agencies serving both rural and urban communities, to buy dozens of low or no emission buses that will replace older vehicles, expand fleets to support essential services, train workers in good-quality careers, and begin the decarbonization transition for several of Ohio’s major transit systems. The new battery electric, CNG, and propane- powered buses supported by this grant will improve air quality and transit reliability, and lower maintenance costs across the state. | |
| OK | Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA), dba EMBARK | $4,278,772 | The Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority’s EMBARK transit will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses, replacing the last remaining diesel buses in EMBARK’s fixed-route fleet. The project will help carry out EMBARK’s 2022 OKC Moves transit improvement plan to reduce emissions and service interruptions, extend service and ensure customers get to their destinations safely and on time. | $4,278,772 |
| OK | City of Norman, Oklahoma | $776,714 | The city of Norman will buy compressed natural gas buses for its paratransit services, replacing older diesel, gasoline and CNG vehicles that have exceeded their useful life. This project will improve air quality and enhance mobility, reliability and safety for people with disabilities that rely on transit to reach jobs and essential services. | $776,714 |
| SC | Greenville Transit Authority d.b.a. Greenlink | $6,341,306 | The Greenville Transit Authority (Greenlink) will receive funding to buy low-emission CNG buses to replace diesel buses that have exceeded their useful life, install a CNG fueling station and provide related training to its mechanics. The project will improve the reliability of transit service, helping residents access jobs, schools, and essential services as well as reduce emissions. | $6,341,306 |
| TX | City of Beaumont | $2,819,460 | Beaumont Municipal Transit will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses to replace older buses that have exceeded their useful life. The buses will help improve safety and reliability as well as air quality. | $2,819,460 |
| TX | Conroe Connection Transit | $4,500,000 | Conroe Connection Transit will receive funding to buy compressed natural gas buses for its Route 291 service, a park-and-ride commuter service to downtown Houston. The project will maintain service and improve reliability for residents in Conroe, located in southeast Texas. | $4,500,000 |
| TX | Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) | $103,000,000 | Dallas Area Rapid Transit will receive funding to buy new compressed natural gas fuel buses to replace older buses. The project will further DART’s mobility goals focused on the region’s most disadvantaged communities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the region. | $103,000,000 |
| TX | Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) | $40,402,548 | The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) will receive funding to buy 40 compressed natural gas fuel buses, build a CNG fueling station, and modernize a bus maintenance facility as part of its transition to a zero-emission fleet. As METRO looks to an all-electric fleet of the future, it will maintain its bus replacement schedule while reducing carbon emissions with CNG vehicles. METRO has committed in its Climate Action Plan to the purchase of only zero emissions buses by 2030. | $40,402,548 |
| TX | Texas Department of Transportation on behalf of 29 rural transportation districts | $7,443,765 | The Texas Department of Transportation will receive funding to buy 56 hybrid-electric and CNG cut-away transit vehicles to replace aging transit vehicles for Texas’s rural transit systems. The project will improve transit service and reliability, reduce fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs for critical transit services in rural areas across the state. | |
| UT | Utah Transit Authority | $17,055,353 | The Utah Transit Authority will receive funding to buy low-emission compressed natural gas buses to replace older diesel buses on routes that serve disadvantaged communities. The project will help reduce the agency’s carbon footprint and improve air quality. | $17,055,353 |
| VA | Loudoun County | $13,880,910 | Loudoun County will receive funding to buy 37 compressed natural gas buses, build a fueling station and improve its maintenance facility, the first step in its 10-year net-zero energy strategy. The buses will anchor the agency’s fleet and service the county’s environmental justice communities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. | $13,880,910 |
| Totals | $278,137,759 | 233,763,904.00 |
_____
1 “Maximize Clean Transit Investment,” NGVAmerica, December 2020. Available at: https://www.ngvamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/NGVA-Transit-Full-Study-December-2020.pdf.
2 U.S. House of Representatives, 166 Cong Rec H 8311, at 8821, December 21, 2020. Available at: https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2020/12/21/house-section/article/H8311-1.
###
NGVAmerica is a national trade association of sustainability solutionists and experts in the clean transportation field. Our roughly 200 members are dedicated to the development of a growing, profitable, and sustainable market for vehicles, ships and carriers powered by natural gas and biomethane. NGVAmerica member companies produce, distribute, and market natural gas and biomethane across North America, manufacture and service natural gas vehicles, engines, and equipment, and operate fleets powered by clean-burning gaseous fuels. Find out more at: www.ngvamerica.org.
NGV news & insights