TransLink of British Columbia Begins Deploying More than 100 CNG Buses

TransLink announced that the first of 106 new CNG buses have arrived and will begin serving customers on Surrey streets this week, with full roll out of the new clean energy buses by the end of the year.

Once all the new buses are in service, it will mean more than half the 209 buses in the Surrey fleet will be new, clean energy buses that provide a better customer experience. TransLink currently has 146 CNG buses in its fleet, operating out of the Port Coquitlam Transit Centre and the Hamilton Transit Centre in Richmond.

The total cost of the CNG bus purchase, along with upgrades to the Surrey Transit Centre that includes a new fueling facility and other works to accommodate the new buses, is approximately $86 million. Of this, about 80 percent of the total comes from the federal gas tax, allocated by the Metro Vancouver board of directors. The remainder is funded by TransLink.

“Today’s announcement is further evidence of the wide range of value natural gas can provide in working towards a low carbon future,” said Roger Dall’Antonia, President and CEO, FortisBC. “Using compressed natural gas substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions and costs less than half of traditional diesel fuel, which is critical at times when gas prices are high.”

The addition of these CNG buses also increases TransLink’s eligibility of claiming carbon credits under the provincial low carbon fuel standard program. In 2017, after three years of involvement in the program, the transportation provider’s credits amounted to $1.5 million. Translink also notes that the cost of purchasing the new CNG buses is offset by contributions from FortisBC through its Natural Gas for Transportation vehicle incentive program.