York Public Transportation To Improve With Bill

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The aging fleet of public transportation buses in York County will get a boost from the recently passed state transportation bill, as could Rabbit Transit‘s plans for a fleet conversion from diesel to natural gas.

Rabbit Transit CEO Richard Farr said the $2.3 billion package “couldn’t be passed a moment too soon,” as about 64 percent of the organization’s 87-vehicle fleet is beyond its useful life or will be in 2014.

That means they’ve surpassed 12 years of age or 600,000 miles, “and we have vehicles with mileage as high as 900,000 miles,” he said.

The old buses are more expensive to maintain, to the tune of an extra $600,000 per year, he said, and in recent months two of them had to be retired because the frames are cracked beyond repair, making them unsafe to haul passengers.

Read more: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_24801596/york-public-transportation-improve-bill

South Side Site Becoming Pittsburgh’s Second Compressed Natural Gas Station

English: Symbol used for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A former Exxon station in Station Square is becoming the city’s second compressed natural gas station with the help of state funding announced this week.

The station, located near the T station at the edge of the Smithfield Street Bridge, is currently under construction.  It will be owned by Desdemona Holdings LP and operate under the American Natural Retail brand.

Desdemona Holdings received a $372,300 grant and $248,200 loan to help complete the project.  Desdemona is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleopatra Resources LLC, a New York-based energy company with local offices near Homestead.

A timetable for completion was not given.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/south-side-site-becoming-citys-second-cng-station-687147/#ixzz2T04Iwgfq

Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority May Use Natural Gas To Power Fleet

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lancaster County waste authority may become a booster in getting the owners of more local vehicles to switch their trucks from running on diesel to cheaper and cleaner domestic natural gas.

The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority is exploring whether it makes dollar sense to replace its aging fleet of 15 trash transfer tractors with new models that run on compressed natural gas.

Moreover, the authority has contacted several dozen private trash haulers in the county about similarly making the switch.

If there’s enough interest, the authority would contemplate building a natural-gas filling station for public use by anyone with a compressed natural-gas vehicle.

It likely would be the county’s first natural gas filling station and probably would be built at the authority’s Harrisburg Pike headquarters.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/616941_Switching-on-the-gas-.html#ixzz1r1l7ZLOW