New buses help keep air clean in Calabasas

New buses help keep air clean in Calabasas By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

Two new clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) buses are on the streets in Calabasas and the trend might not end here, according to Calabasas Assistant Transportation Planner Tom Gdala.

The city of Calabasas intends to buy three more CNG buses.

"These buses are 95 percent cleaner burning," Gdala said. "Compressed natural gas emits less than 10 percent of the pollutants that traditional gasoline does," he said.

Asked if Gdala sees a bigger future for CNG vehicles on the streets, Gdala answered, "I think there will be a phasing out of gasoline over time and ideally—if hydrogen technology keeps improving—that’s probably the direction most cities will start to turn in the next decade."

A current drawback for CNG is the cost of equipment that compresses the gas and maintenance, Gdala said. "Gasoline is much cheaper to refine, transport and pump because it’s in a liquid form," he said.

Another drawback of CNG, according to Gdala, is the vehicle range between fill-ups.

"These buses will go maybe 150 miles before they need to be refueled," Gdala said. The buses that the city of Calabasas recently purchased could’ve gone for a longer range, he said. "We could’ve purchased another tank and go another 50 or 60 miles, but we would have lost a couple of passenger seats," Gdala said.

Calabasas paid for the CNG buses through Proposition C funds (local sales tax funds for transit use). The city is also contributing to the maintenance of the CNG fueling facility at the Chevron gas station on Las Virgenes Road near the 101 Freeway.

Gdala said the city pays for the CNG facility maintenance by using air quality management district funds and portions of vehicle registration fees that every local jurisdiction receives. Some of the expenditures associated with those revenue sources must be earmarked for pollution reduction programs.

The two new CNG shuttles in Calabasas have replaced buses that served Lupin Hill Elementary School; Chaparral Elementary School; Creekside Camp (which is the after-school program—during the summer, it’s just for Camp Calabasas); and Calabasas and Agoura high schools. The same buses also served other areas, according to Gdala.

For more information about routes, call (818) 878-4242, ext. 251.

"Each bus is a 20-passenger, air conditioned, compressed natural gas bus," Gdala said. The previous vehicles seated 20 passengers as well, he said, but were much smaller. The new buses have individual seats instead of the bench seats and are more comfortable, he added.

The buses are operated toll-free.