Lexington’s mass transit system will use more than $4 million in federal funding to purchase six new compressed natural gas buses. The new CNG vehicles will replace Lextran’s diesel buses that have surpassed their useful life. Emily Elliott is director of planning and community development. Elliot said Lextran is in the midst of updating fuel delivery for compressed natural gas buses.
“Several years ago we applied for a grant to upgrade our compressed natural gas fueling capabilities. And that construction is ongoing right now and should be wrapped up in August. So, we have been planning to implement more natural gas vehicles into the fleet,” said Elliott.
Elliot noted it typically takes close to two years from funding to manufacturing to delivery. But, she added that timeline may be sped up. Currently CNG buses represent 43% of the total Lextran fleet. Elliott said the move to CNG and battery electric buses will continue as part of the mix.
“We anticipate that we will continue to move in this direction and diversify the fleet but it remains important for us to have different options available for fuel costs, reliability, the whole thing across the board to make sure we have a diverse fleet,” said Elliott.
Over the next couple of years, Elliott said the low or no emissions portion of the fleet will grow from 60 to 70%. She noted the grant also focuses a lot on workforce development. Elliott added that support can go to cover training and other development needs.
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