We have learned that the City of Evansville will be purchasing three new hybrid busses with the Federal Transit stimulus funds. These busses are more efficient in fuel consumption and they also need less servicing that the older busses in use.

 

 

News Release:

From: City of Evansville, Mayor's Office

Evansville Will “Green Up” Fleet With Federal Transit Stimulus

(EVANSVILLE, IN) – Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel is announcing today that the City of Evansville will receive $2,615,993 in funds for public transit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). More than $2 million of that money will be used to make the METS fleet more environmentally friendly through the purchase of additional hybrid buses and retrofitting existing facilities and buses to use biodiesel.

The City of Evansville plans to spend the stimulus funds on the purchase of 3 new hybrid buses at a cost of $550,000 each. Hybrid buses use less fuel, require fewer repairs and reduce emissions up to 90% in particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. They also greatly reduce carbon dioxide emissions – a green house gas.
In another step toward reaching a greener fleet, the City plans to use $50,000 of the stimulus money to prepare the fuel tanks of non-hybrid buses to use B20 – a fuel blend using 20% biodiesel, a renewable resource made from vegetable oils, such as soybean oil. The production of B20 is more environmentally friendly. B20 is biodegradable and nontoxic, and provides better fuel economy. The use of B20 leads to a decrease in total unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions.
Stimulus dollars will also be used by the City to purchase six 20-passenger diesel-powered Phoenix Vans at a cost of $73,000 each. The Phoenix Vans meet California emission standards, which are the toughest in the country and they are equipped with extra-heavy capacity wheelchair lifts.

“The City’s sustainability policy will move forward more quickly thanks to the stimulus money, which will allow us to purchase new energy efficient buses right now rather than waiting on more traditional funding methods like grants and allocations,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “Having 11 hybrid buses and buses that can run on biodiesel will enable the City to have a much greener and more environmentally friendly public transit system.”

METS currently has 30 buses, 5 of which are hybrids. The City also purchased 3 hybrid buses in February, and with the purchase of 3 hybrids from stimulus dollars, the total number of hybrids in the METS fleet will be 11. A $480,000 grant, secured in the 2008 Federal Budget by Senator Richard Lugar, was applied toward the February purchase. The grant will be used to offset the cost between a conventional bus and a hybrid. 80% of the remaining purchase price will subsidized by the federal government, and 20% is divided equally between the state and the City.

The remaining amount of the $2.6 million in public transit funding will be used to purchase
10 bus shelters, 5 bus surveillance cameras, and equipment to perform preventative maintenance and repairs on the METS fleet.

 

Source: The City of Evansville