Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District's Board of Directors unanimously voted Friday to buy 57 hydrogen-powered, fuel-cell electric buses that will largely serve the Watsonville area. The buses, manufactured by New Flyer, will include 48 standard 40-foot buses and use nine 60-foot articulated buses primarily for routes servicing the UC Santa Cruz area. The existing 94-bus fleet is made up of compressed natural gas and diesel-powered vehicles, with about 10% already zero-emission. The purchase will move the agency fleet up to 69% zero-emission buses and put it on track to convert its entire fleet to zero-emission by 2037, as part of state clean energy mandates.
Metro Board Chairperson Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson touted, in an agency release, last week's procurement agreement as the largest acquisition of such buses in North American history. Kalantari-Johnson added in a quote that the purchase makes Metro "a national leader in environmentally-friendly public transportation and a key environmental community partner."
Once the agency rolls out the new buses, the combined new and old zero-emission fleet is expected to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. According to CEO/General Manager Michael Tree, the benefits of choosing hydrogen cell-powered buses versus electric include longer trips between fueling, faster refueling and less road wear-and-tear with lighter vehicles. Hydrogen fueling stations may also be reliably powered by generators during power outages, he said.
A hydrogen cell, versus an electric battery, uses hydrogen to power an electric generator. The power source change will require Metro to construct a specialized hydrogen fueling station intended to allow for future expansion to serve the zero-emissions fueling needs of local partner agencies and others. The buses will emit water vapor instead of greenhouse gases, however about 70% of the hydrogen fuel comes from natural gas and other greenhouse gas sources, Tree told the Sentinel. Wind, solar and dairy farm biomass will provide about 30% of the hydrogen supply.
The fleet upgrade remains contingent on a pending $27 million grant from the California Air Resources Board's Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust, according to the agency's staff report Friday. However, efforts are already supported through a $20.4 million grant funding from the Federal Transit Administration's FY23 Bus and Bus Facilities program and a $38.6 million award from the California State Transportation Agency's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. According to earlier reports, Metro expects to put up an estimated $918,000 in funding from its 2016 Measure D transportation sales tax set aside.
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