HARRISBURG – On Tuesday, the Wolf Administration announced the formal opening of service at one of the 29 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling stations planned as part of a Public Private Partnership.
Officials from PennDOT, Trillium CNG and IndiGO-Indiana marked the start of fueling at the facility at 1657 Saltsburg Ave., Indiana.
“This addition to our growing ranks of transit-based CNG stations means savings for transit operators and a step towards a better environment,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “CNG-fueled vehicles translate into better efficiency, cleaner burning fuels and lower fuel costs.”
Through the $84.5 million statewide P3 project, Trillium is designing, building, financing and will operate and maintain CNG fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites through a 20-year P3 agreement.
Other stations will be constructed over the next several years, and Trillium is also making CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities.
As part of the conversion, IndiGO-Indiana will replace its current 13 CNG buses with updated versions.
In addition to the transit bus fueling, the Indiana station will be open to the public 24/7.
PennDOT’s overall P3 project includes CNG fueling accessible to the public at six transit agency sites, with the option to add to sites in the future.
PennDOT will receive a 15 percent royalty, excluding taxes, for each gallon of fuel sold to the public at public sites, which will be used to support the cost of the project.
Using the P3 procurement mechanism allows PennDOT to install the fueling stations faster than if a traditional procurement mechanism were used for each site, resulting in significant estimated capital cost savings of more than $46 million.
To date, stations have opened at:
- Cambria County Transportation Authority, Johnstown Facility, includes public fueling.
- Mid Mon Valley Transportation Authority.
- Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, York Facility, includes public fueling.
- Cambria County Transportation Authority, Ebensburg Facility
- Westmoreland County Transportation Authority
- Centre Area Transportation Authority
- Beaver County Transit Agency
- Crawford Area Transportation Authority
- New Castle Area Transportation Authority, includes public fueling.
- County of Lebanon Transportation Authority
- Altoona Metro Transit
- Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Allentown Facility
- Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Gettysburg Facility
A list of other agencies participating in the P3 project, in order of construction-start timeline, follows:
- Butler Transportation Authority (2018)
- Erie Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2019), includes public fueling.
- Mercer County Regional Council of Governments (2019)
- Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation System (2019)
- Monroe County Transportation Authority (2019)
- Area Transportation Authority of North Central PA, Bradford Facility (2019)
- Area Transportation Authority of North Central PA, Johnsonburg Facility (2019)
- County of Lackawanna Transportation System (2020), includes public fueling.
- Area Transportation Authority of North Central PA, DuBois Facility (2020)
- Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Easton Facility (2021)
- Luzerne County Transportation Authority (2021)
- Schuylkill Transportation System (2021)
- Transit Authority of Warren County (2021)
- Capital Area Transit
- Port Authority of Allegheny County
When the project is completed, the fueling stations will supply gas to more than 1,600 CNG buses at transit agencies across the state. To learn more about this and other P3 projects visit www.P3forPA.pa.gov.