The new facility will have the capacity to allow the city’s fleet of natural gas buses to grow from the current complement of 35 to a total of 120 vehicles over the next six years and will replace an existing station at the city’s transit facility on Upper James Street that is nearing end of life.
“We are pleased to be working with the City of Hamilton, a pioneer in natural gas transit vehicles, to modernize and grow its fleet,” said Dave Simpson, vice president of in-franchise sales and marketing and customer care for Union Gas. “CNG significantly reduces operating costs and contributes to a cleaner environment, making it an ideal transport fuel for buses and other heavy truck fleets.”
Replacing the existing fleet of 35 buses with CNG versus diesel will save the City over $1.9 million in fuel costs over the next two years, and reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of removing over 18,100 passenger cars from city streets. And as the City’s CNG fleet expands, the savings will be even greater. Details of the project will be further developed in the coming months as the city and Union Gas work together to structure contracts surrounding the construction and maintenance of the station.
“We are excited about the opportunity that the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel presents for the City of Hamilton to benefit both from an economic and environmental perspective,” said Geoff Lupton, director of energy, fleet & traffic for the City of Hamilton’s corporate assets & strategic planning division.
Source: Union Gas
