The board of the Washington, D.C. transit authority for thefirst time has recommended the purchase of 100 buses fueled bycompressed natural gas, a breakthrough hailed by the Natural GasVehicle Coalition (NGVC) as part of a growing trend.

The District of Columbia member of the DC, Maryland and Virginiaauthority lobbied hard for the authorization, which is subject tothe board coming up with the extra funding that will be needed topurchase the replacement gas-fired buses.

A staff analysis projected the cost of adding CNG buses, plusthe required infrastructure for fueling, maintenance and trainingto support them, at $13 million more than the cost of replacementdiesel buses.

Rich Kolodziej, president of the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition(NGVC), hailed the action, saying the goal is to replace 25% of the1,300-bus Washington fleet with CNG vehicles over the next fiveyears. The mayor and city council of the District of Columbia arepushing the transition to combat pollution and a local asthma ratethat is more than twice the national average.

Kolodziej sees a growing market for the natural gas-firedvehicles, reaching half a quadrillion Btu by 2010. He pointed outthat currently 20% of all transit buses on order across the U.S.are natural gas buses. There are more than 3,000 actually inservice. Los Angeles, with one of the worst pollution rates frommobile sources, currently has more than 1,000 natural gas-firedbuses.

The resolution passed by the D.C. transit authority last weekcalls on staff to identify sources of additional funding andrecommend a procurement plan by Nov. 9.

Potential funding sources include several federal incentiveplans, which have been set up specifically for projects that reducevehicle pollution. “This is clearly a new policy direction,” saidRay Feldmann, director of media relations for the WashingtonMetropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Once the funding is set, the transit authority will advertisefor suppliers.Feldmann said that could also include third partiesthat would set up infrastructure and fueling facilities and own andoperate the buses. Several cities are using this arrangement,paying on a per diesel gallon equivalent formula. “This definitelyis an option we are considering.”

Two companies, Trillium USA, a Salt Lake City-based subsidiaryof WestCoast Energy, and Pickens Fuel Corp., of Seal Beach, CA,whose chairman is Boone Pickens, already have contacted D.C.officials, offering to provide full service in exchange for along-term contract.

Long term, the transit authority sees fuel cells powering thesystem, “but, that can’t happen for eight to 10 years; our problemis immediate,” Feldmann said. The Sierra Club, which started itscampaign for natural gas buses two years ago with the election ofthe current mayor and city council, also provided information tothe transit staff on the natural gas solution. The D.C. authoritywas impressed with the experience of a fleet of 24 CNG buses run bysuburban Montgomery County, MD, said Sierra Club’s Mark Wenzler.

“Our goal is to have all replacements be natural gas-powered.”Wenzler said he was encouraged by a discussion before the transitauthority vote Thursday in which it was pointed out that if itconverts one of its own maintenance facilities to servicing CNGvehicles, it would be cost-efficient to have that facilityeventually support about 300 buses.

NGVC’s Kolodziej points to an expanding market for CNG, not justfor buses, but for private fleets as well. Waste Management Corp.,the largest trash hauler in the U.S. with 50,000 trucks, hasseveral hundred CNG trucks on order or on the road, and “is rapidlyincreasing its CNG fleet.” Also, support for CNG is much broaderthan it was. “When NGVC first started out its members were mainlyutilities. Now, utilities are only about one/third of ourmembership.” The membership currently includes a broad spectrum ofcompanies. “Some very large companies are interested in this.”

Kolodziej is not concerned that higher natural gas prices willslow the trend.

“The cost of fuel is only 25% to 35% of the cost of running thevehicles. Even doubling the price of natural gas would onlyincrease the price at the pump by 30%.”

Ellen Beswick

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