The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) provides commuter express transit bus services in the greater downtown Los Angeles area. In an effort to modernize and reduce air pollutant emissions from their bus fleet, LADOT recently took delivery of 95 new compressed natural gas transit motor coaches co-funded by the MSRC. These new buses are direct replacements for 95 older diesel buses that were retired.
42,750,000
An initial challenge encountered in implementing the project was identifying a vendor for high-floor, ADA-compliant motor coaches that were compatible with a compressed natural gas engine and fuel system. LADOT was able to partner with a motor coach manufacturer to procure the CNG buses. The procurement process did require additional time; however, this was anticipated and reflected in the project's implementation schedule.
LADOT's objective under this MSRC-sponsored projectwas to retire and replace older, diesel-fueled transit buses with new motor coaches utilizing cleaner-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel. A total of 95 buses were replaced.
The motor coaches have been operating in regularly scheduled service and no technical issues have been identified to date.
All 95 CNG motor coaches have been received and accepted by LADOT. The vehicles are operating in revenue service in support of LADOT's Commuter Express serivce. Commuter Express is an express bus service consisting of 13 routes, all but one running during rush hours only. Most Commuter Express routes were former Los Angeles Metro lines.