HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced the opening of the first of 29 Compressed Natural Gas fueling stations planned as part of a Public Private Partnership.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Toby Fauver and P-3 Office Director Mike Bonini joined officials from Trillium CNG, Cam Tran, and state and local officials in Johnstown Thursday to mark opening of the facility.
“This innovative P3 is allowing us to help transit agencies save money and take advantage of plentiful supplies of natural gas produced right here in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said. “We applaud Trillium for reaching this first milestone and look forward to continued progress on this initiative.”
Through the $84.5 million statewide project, Trillium will design, build, finance, operate and maintain CNG fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites through a 20-year P3 agreement. Following today’s opening, other stations will be constructed over the next five years and Trillium is also making CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities.
CNG fueling will be accessible to the public at six transit agency sites, with the option to add to additional sites in the future. The CNG station in Johnstown is available to the public, including for trucks. PennDOT will receive a 15 percent royalty, excluding taxes, for each gallon of fuel sold to the public, which will be used to support the cost of the project. The team has guaranteed at least $2.1 million in royalties over the term of the agreement.
Using the P3 procurement mechanism allows PennDOT to install the fueling stations faster than if a traditional procurement mechanism was used for each site, resulting in significant estimated capital cost savings of more than $46 million.
When the project is completed, the fueling stations will supply gas to more than 1,600 CNG buses at transit agencies across the state.
Fueling stations are planned for 2019 for Area Transportation Authority of North Central Pennsylvania facilities in Bradford and in Johnsonburg. A call to the ATA office for more information was not returned on Thursday.
The Bradford ATA facility is in the preliminary stages. The ATA had been awarded a state grant last year for a feasibility study to determine the scope of the project.
“The ultimate goal is to construct a regional transfer center for local and intercity public transit passengers and tour buses in Bradford’s central business district,” a press release from state Rep. Marty Causer’s (R-Turtlepoint) office stated. “It is also part of a larger mission by the ATA to better meet the needs of the consumers in its 5,000-square-mile service area.” The release indicated that similar centers have been built in St. Marys and Punxsutawney.
