(Kansas City, Mo. – Aug. 26, 2014) The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) will celebrate the opening of its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.
The CNG fueling station is the largest fast-fill station in Missouri and the Kansas City region. The station allows buses to be fueled in less than seven minutes, and will enable KCATA to fill more than 200 buses nightly. The agency currently has 17 CNG buses in its fleet with eight more arriving next month.
The move from diesel to CNG fuel is expected to save up to $500,000 in fuel in 2015, and up to $4,000,000 per year once the fleet is fully converted over the next dozen years. KCATA has entered into a partnership with Clean Energy, who will monitor and maintain the fueling station.
“The move from diesel fuel to CNG will result in cleaner air, and significant cost savings,” said Dick Jarrold, KCATA Vice President of Regional Planning & Development.
CNG vehicles are being phased in as current buses are retired. The station cost $3.2 million to build; eighty percent of the cost was provided by the federal Urbanized Area Formula Grant Program.
Speakers at the opening will include Mokhtee Ahmad, Region VII Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration; Peter Grace, Clean Energy Fuels; and Patti Reardon, Missouri Gas Energy/Laclede Energy.