Lafayette's small fleet of city-owned buses that run on compressed natural gas could soon expand to 19 CNG green transit machines with the addition of roughly a dozen free used CNG-powered buses. A suburban county government near Atlanta with incentive to donate a fleet of buses powered by compressed natural gas is looking to Lafayette to adopt the CNG green transit machines and add to Lafayette's growing fleet of CNG-operated buses.
According to The Advocate, Gwinnett County, Ga., is willing to donate 12-14 CNG buses that it no longer uses (it has since switched to larger CNG models) to Lafayette Consolidated Government, a deal that could triple the number of CNG buses rolling on city streets and put Lafayette ahead of schedule on its plan to convert all of its buses to the cleaner burning and more cost-efficient alternative to diesel fuel:
The Georgia county purchased the buses in 2001 for a shuttle service to and from Atlanta but is phasing out the older, 35-seat units in favor of larger, 57-seat units to accommodate demand for the service, Gwinnett Country Transit Division Director Phil Boyd said.
The buses, like most used in government transit services, were funded mainly with federal dollars, and the federal government would require Gwinnett Country to pay back a portion of the federal money if the buses are sold while still having useful life.
But the Federal Transit Administration does allow a transit service to give used buses to another service without the obligation to pay off the remaining useful life.
Tramel said his department still has several "hoops to jump through" for the deal, including a thorough inspection of the buses.
If all goes well, the buses could be on the streets by next year, he said.
The donated buses could also aid in the development of a city-run shuttle service for UL Lafayette students, The Advocate reports. LCG's Mike Hollier tells The Ind in this week's "Green Issue" that CNG-powered buses for UL's transit system are part of a cooperative five-year plan to convert LCG, ULL and Lafayette Parish School System buses to CNG.
Read The Advocate's story here.
For more from on the Hub City's movement toward cheaper, cleaner burning fuel, read this week's green issue news story, "LCG Goes CNG."