What Happened?
Tompkins County, New York, is planning to leverage a $3.17 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration to invest in hydrogen fuel cell bus technology in the next 12 to 18 months. The USDOT is allocating $13.6 million in funding nationwide for hydrogen fuel cell bus purchases as part of the FTA’s Fuel Cell Bus Program.
The Goal
Tompkins County is participating in the Central New York Fuel Cell Transportation Program, which is one of 8 projects being supported through the FTA’s initiative. The project involves the purchase of a $1.2 million bus equipped with fuel cell technology that offer zero-emissions transportation to the community to sustain long-term reductions in pollution and fuel costs.
The Tompkins County Transit Authority will lease the hydrogen fuel cell bus for free for the first two years, and then have the opportunity to purchase the bus outright or receive it at no cost. The local transit authority will be responsible for maintaining and operating the bus while leasing it, as it joins the public fleet that also includes hybrid and diesel buses adhering to lower emissions standards.
Federal Involvement
The Federal Transit Authority’s National Fuel Cell Bus Program is designed to create awareness and drive demand for American-made fuel cell buses for public transit. Through the funding of eight projects across the country, totaling $13.6 million in grants in 2013 alone, the FTA is promoting the development and testing of cleaner sources of fuel.
The federal funding is available to municipalities through consortium partners CALSTART and the Center for Transportation and the Environment, two nonprofits involved in developing and managing all projects that receive funding. Since launching in 2006, the program has distributed almost $90 million in financial support for green fuel projects.
Meet The Bus
There are many programs at the federal, state and local level working to expand the use of green technology as an alternative fuel source for lower greenhouse gas emissions. The National Fuel Cell Bus Program has a branch of the project specifically dedicated to the promotion of the hydrogen hybrid bus. The FTA is working collaboratively with nonprofits, local governments and energy providers nationwide to develop the hydrogen fuel cell technology and demonstrate its benefits and capabilities to municipalities and industry leaders.
These green buses use hydrogen fuel cell to electrically drive the wheels, and the hybrid version will contain batteries or a supercapacitor. The first fuel cell bus projects were launched in Beijing in 2006, and have since spread across Europe, Canada, South America and finally the United States. International organizations such as the Fuel Cell Bus Club are experimenting different fuel cell innovations to find the most cost-efficient sources of green transit energy. These organizations are a combination of nonprofits and private enterprises, which will help accelerate the development and distribution of fuel cell buses once the technology has been perfected.
Keeping Pace
Gov1 has kept a close eye on the green projects impacting public transit including propane school buses and natural gas technology.