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The Orange County Transportation Authority was recently honored by one of the industry’s leading organizations for environmentally friendly transportation options for the agency’s efforts to move its bus fleet toward producing zero emissions.
OCTA received the Transit and Mobility Award from the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, an event in Long Beach that drew several thousand attendees from the industry and is billed as North America’s largest event celebrating transportation technology and clean fleets.
“We greatly appreciate this acknowledgement of the work OCTA is doing to integrate clean technologies while continuing to provide the high level of service and reliability that OC Bus passengers count on,” said OCTA Chairman Mark A. Murphy, also the mayor of Orange.
In announcing the award, ACT said: “OCTA was one of the very first transit operators to switch to natural gas approximately 20 years ago. Today, its nearly 500 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses run on 100% renewable natural gas … It also operates the largest hydrogen fueling station in the country to support a growing fleet of fuel cell electric buses. OCTA is a long-time sustainable transportation leader.”
In addition to running most of its buses on near zero-emission compressed natural gas, OCTA is working to convert its entire fleet of OC Buses to zero-emission buses by 2040. OCTA is currently testing 10 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses and, this year, began a second pilot program to test plug-in electric bus technology.
Substantial funding for the pilot programs comes from California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.
OCTA will begin phasing in additional zero-emission buses as part of future bus purchases. At the same time, staff will continue to analyze emerging technologies and work with partners to secure funding for purchase, operations and maintenance of the buses.
OCTA was chosen for the honor among hundreds of nominees. Other awards were given for schools, public and private fleets, among other categories. For a full list of winners and more about the CTA Expo, visit www.actexpo.com/fleet-awards.
For more information about OCTA and its bus services, visit www.ocbus.com.
