WARREN — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has announced that the Trillium CNG team has been selected for the department’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transit fueling station Public-Private Partnership project.
The Trillium CNG team includes Larson Design Group of Williamsport.
The $84.5 million project will see Trillium “design, build, finance, operate and maintain CNG fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites” throughout the Commonwealth, and one of those sites includes the Transit Authority of Warren County (TAWC) site at 42 Clark St.
TAWC Director John Aldrich believes it would be more cost effective to replace the fleet as opposed to converting the vehicles to CNG, but purchasing the vehicles would be “down the road,” Aldrich said
The larger buses, after conversion to CNG, would not fit in the garage, and it would be too expensive to make any conversions with the smaller buses.
Aldrich also noted upgrades to the facilities would need to be made at TAWC’s garage.
PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said the impact of the project goes beyond natural gas production, and is actually saving agencies $10 million annually by making the switch to CNG.
“With Pennsylvania’s natural gas resources, this project will not only bring efficiencies for transit agencies and the state,” Richards said, “but we’re also helping establish a foothold for the CNG transportation market in areas that may not have seen this opportunity for some time.”
Aldrich said the move would be cost effective for TAWC to make the switch. He estimates using CNG over diesel now yields a savings of approximately $1 per gallon, and that savings could be more in the future when fuel costs begin to rise. That savings is important to TAWC, said Aldrich, because fuel is the second largest line item in his budget after salaries.
Aldrich also believes school districts would benefit from a conversion to CNG, although he acknowledges there are a lot of privately owned and operated school buses operating in the district.
Aldrich also said in addition to the benefits of a cleaner burning fuel being used and a longer engine life in the vehicles, switching to CNG puts TAWC — and everyone else fueling their vehicles with compressed natural gas — ahead of the game.
Aldrich believes in 30 years, the great majority of vehicles will be CNG burning vehicles. He also cited recent reports from Toyota that indicate the Japanese auto manufacturer will not be producing anymore vehicles that run on conventional gasoline in 50 years.
Aldrich is also hopeful the city of Warren will be on board with the initiative for CNG. The plot of land adjacent to the TAWC garage is owned by the city, and Aldrich does not believe the project will move forward without the blessing from city officials.
