Skip to main content

LA retires last diesel bus

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) has retired the last diesel bus in its fleet, becoming the world's first major transit agency to operate only clean fuel buses - nearly 100 per cent of which operate on compressed natural gas (CNG). According to Metro, compared with diesel buses, its CNG fleet reduces cancer-causing particulate matter by more than 80 per cent. And, because of the switch from diesel to CNG, Metro avoids emitting nearly 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per da
May 18, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
5625 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) has retired the last diesel bus in its fleet, becoming the world's first major transit agency to operate only clean fuel buses - nearly 100 per cent of which operate on compressed natural gas (CNG).

According to Metro, compared with diesel buses, its CNG fleet reduces cancer-causing particulate matter by more than 80 per cent. And, because of the switch from diesel to CNG, Metro avoids emitting nearly 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per day.

"What Metro has achieved transcends Los Angeles County," said Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Don Knabe. "We proved from both a technical and economic standpoint that a large transit agency can operate with alternative clean burning fuels and this has led many other transit agencies to follow our lead. Likewise, what Metro is doing to tap solar energy, recycle and build green facilities is raising the bar for the industry. That's good for our customers, taxpayers and the environment."

Related Content

  • April 21, 2016
    Silos are last century’s thinking
    After 45 years in transportation, Ken Philmus sees the need for major change in a sector currently ill-prepared to meet the challenge of funding and rapidly advancing technological change. Having worked in both the public and private sectors, Ken Philmus, currently senior vice president of transportation solutions at Xerox, appreciates both approaches, but times are changing and he believes the sector needs to change too. “I like trains, planes and automobiles but I love the concept of mobility and that’s w
  • May 24, 2013
    Britain's first Bio-LNG filling station launched
    The UK's first open access Bio-LNG filling station, built by Gasrec , has been launched, marking the start of a nationwide investment in infrastructure seeking the ultimate prize of wiping out nearly two-thirds of the nation's heavy goods vehicle (HGV) emissions. Gasrec's ground-breaking new facility in Daventry is the first of its kind. It will lead to significant cuts in pollution and fuel costs; allow gas-powered or dual-fuel trucks to use Bio-LNG; and will operate in a similar way to a traditional petr
  • January 20, 2012
    Transport technology transforming bus stops in Los Angeles
    David Crawford reports on a pioneering blend of transport technology and aesthetic By gaining a design award before installation has even started, the US$6.9 million City of Santa Monica (California)'s Big Blue Bus Shelter and Branding Package has ensured early interest among what it expects to be a new wave of transit riders. The American Institute of Architects' Los Angeles chapter's recently conferred 'Next LA Citation Award for Architecture', given for design excellence in projects as yet unbuilt, comm
  • August 15, 2019
    LA launches own ‘Green New Deal’
    Los Angeles, once a temple to the automobile, has followed the Democrats in launching its own Green New Deal – and the city has made big pledges on urban mobility investment The Democratic Party has started something. The Green New Deal, one of whose most high-profile supporters is new congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, intends to persuade the public that swift action is necessary to combat climate change. Now the city of Los Angeles has followed suit, releasing what it calls ‘LA’s Green New Deal’.