On February 2nd, The Fullerton City Council held Clean Energy Day, a celebration for the public to mark the official grand opening of a new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fueling Center. The city received $400,000 in Clean Transportation Funding from the MSRC for the original installation of the station in addition to $50,000 for two heavy-duty natural gas vehicles. The city also received nearly $110,000 towards the purchase of two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) street sweepers and the retrofit of seven vehicles with diesel emission control systems.
The City of Fullerton’s commitment to cleaner transportation programs was also significantly helped by a $1.48 million contract with Bike Nation, which will finance the capital and startup costs as well as two years of operation for a new bike share program in the city. Funding for this pilot program was made possible through the combination of a federal grant and funding from the OCTA (Clean Transportation Funding from the MSRC provided a $224,000 award to OCTA to be used towards bikeshare programs).
The contract will install 165 bikes and 15 stations at various locations within a 2 square mile area in Fullerton. Bike Nation is co-investing in the program and will add up to 35 stations with 350 bikes resulting in a total of 50 stations and 515 bikes.
The program is designed to benefit students and residents of the downtown area. Jane Rands, a member of Fullerton City Council’s Bicycle Users Subcommittee, said the main purpose of the bike sharing program is to get people out of their cars and in particular to get people from the train station to Cal State Fullerton.