With the retirement of its last diesel buses, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) moved to 100% clean-fuel buses Wednesday, the first major city transit system in the nation to do so. All but a handful of the buses run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other local and utility officials participated in ceremonies marking the milestone, 18 years after MTA purchased its first CNG-powered buses.

MTA’s fleet now consists of 2,221 CNG buses, one electric bus and six gasoline-electric hybrid buses. Villaraigosa said they have logged one billion clean air miles. With the gathering at MTA main transportation facility near downtown Los Angeles, the officials declared that the last diesels in the 2,228-bus fleet are now history.

The transit operator maintains 10 fueling locations throughout its sprawling system that covers much of Los Angeles County. All but one of these locations have fast-fueling CNG capability. The MTA natural gas bill for the past fiscal year ended June 30 was $30.4 million, according to a spokesperson for the transit operator.

“Los Angeles County has become the first major transit agency in the world to operate only alternative clean-fueled buses,” a spokesperson for the city and county said. “The recently approved fuel tax credit that is retroactive to 2010 is going to substantially reduce [MTA’s gas bill]. In addition to the fuel bill, there is the cost of fuel compression and facilities, which is approximately 30 cents/therm, or another $15 million annually,” the MTA spokesperson added.

Compared with the diesel buses that the MTA retired, the CNG fleet reduces cancer-causing particulate matter by more than 80%, the spokesperson said. In addition, because of the switch from diesel to CNG, the fleet avoids emitting nearly 300,00 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions daily.

MTA Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said the metropolitan system has “proved from both a technical and economic standpoint” that a large transit agency can operate with alternative clean-burning fuels. Knabe said this has led a number of other transit agencies to follow the city’s lead.

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