SamTrans Receives Funding For Hybrid Buses

By

July 23, 2012

The San Mateo County Transit District has received a $4.9 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to help purchase the transit district’s first diesel/hybrid electric buses.

The State of Good Repair funding grant will allow SamTrans to upgrade its fleet with up to 25 buses featuring the latest diesel/electric hybrid technology. These buses will reduce NOx emissions by 90 percent and other harmful emissions by up to 30 percent.

The buses are part of larger purchase of 62 buses, which will use modern diesel engines. The buses will replace a 15-year old fleet, the oldest that SamTrans operates. All of the buses are cleaner and more efficient than the old vehicles.

“These new buses will benefit San Mateo County residents because they produce less pollution” said SamTrans Chair Jerry Deal. “They also will benefit taxpayers because they are less expensive to operate and maintain.”

The buses will be purchased through a standing agreement with Gillig Corp. of Hayward, which means the federal funds will go to provide jobs to Bay Area workers.

The new 40-foot buses will be used throughout SamTrans service area and could be in service by 2014. Each bus can carry up to 39 seated passengers.

The buses are part of a fleet of 312 vehicles that provide transportation for more than 40,000 people every weekday. Most SamTrans riders are going to school or work and more than 60 percent do not have access to a car.

The grant comes under the FTA’s Bus and Bus Facilities Initiative. The project is also part of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s 2035 Regional Transportation Program and is included in the Regional Transit Capital Inventory, a regional state of good repair database for transit operators in the San Francisco Bay Area.

# # #

The San Mateo County Transit District is the administrative agency for public transit and transportation programs in San Mateo County: SamTrans bus service and Redi-Wheels paratransit service; Caltrain commuter rail service; and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which administers a half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements.