July 10
BY STEVE EVERLY AND BEN UNGLESBEE
The Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is going big into natural gas.
The agency on Wednesday put two new natural-gas powered buses into service and announced plans to eventually replace its entire fleet of 300 buses, which mostly use diesel, with natural-gas vehicles.
“We’re here to celebrate our latest addition,” Mark Huffer, general manager of the ATA, said at a ceremony unveiling the new buses. “In addition to being an environmental benefit, it also makes economic sense.”
An additional 23 natural-gas buses have already been ordered and the entire fleet will be replaced over 12 to 14 years as the current buses wear out. Five hybrid-electric buses now in use will also be replaced.
The natural-gas buses are cleaner burning than those that use other fossil fuels. Compared with a model year 2000 diesel bus, they emit 80 percent less nitrous oxide, which contributes to global warming, and 99 percent less particulate matter, which consists of tiny bits of suspended solids.
The buses will also be more economical. The price of natural gas purchased by the ATA is about half the cost of diesel. Even if natural-gas prices rise in the future, the fuel is still expected to remain cheaper than diesel, Huffer said.
He added that another benefit is that natural gas is almost entirely produced in the U.S.
A natural-gas bus costs $40,000 more than a diesel-powered bus, but it is expected to save the ATA about $100,000 over its life.
The new buses that made their debuts Wednesday cost $420,000 each, with the federal government paying 80 percent of the price. Federal funds pay a similar subsidy for all transit buses regardless of the fuel used.
The buses are quieter than the ones fueled by diesel, and passengers quickly noticed that Wednesday.
“It smells new and doesn’t have all those noises that other buses do,” said Ange Logan, a passenger who said she has been riding buses to work since 1985.
Michael Hanson, another passenger, agreed: “It has a lot less noise now that I think about it.”
Missouri Gas Energy is helping the ATA’s move into natural gas. The utility is building a higher pressure line to the agency’s operation center to supply a fueling station. Bids for constructing the station are being sought. In the meantime, another natural-gas station owned by Kansas City will fuel the buses.
“We thank you for choosing clean, green American natural gas,” Susan Marx, commercial sales representative for the utility, said at Wednesday’s ceremony at Ilus W. Davis Park across from City Hall.
About 20 percent of transit buses in the United States use natural gas, and according to the American Public Transit Association they are the largest user of natural gas by vehicles.
With huge supplies of natural gas now being recovered from rock formations in the U.S., it’s getting more attention as a transportation fuel to reduce oil imports.
Buses are considered ideal candidates for the fuel because they are intensively used and can take better advantage of its cheaper price. The buses also return daily to the same location, allowing them to be easily filled.
However, the lack of natural-gas stations in the U.S. has hampered its adoption.
“It’s exciting to see Kansas City take this step,” said Kelly Gilbert, director of transportation for the Metropolitan Energy Center in Kansas City.
The ATA’s two natural-gas buses are being used on the 63rd Street and the Antioch/Vivion routes. They are both “wrapped” with large signs that say they are natural-gas powered.
That’s nice, but Terri Mason, a passenger on one of the buses Wednesday, said she didn’t care what the bus ran on, “as long as it gets us to where we need to go.”