A decade long effort is finally paying off for the Butler Transit Authority as four new Compressed Natural Gas fueled buses arrived Monday.
The delivery of a fifth compressed natural gas MCI Coach bus from the plant in North Dakota is expected in the next few days. According to Executive Director John Paul, the process to get funding for the buses began in 2007.
Now that the buses have been received, federal, state and local money will be released in payment but work still needs to be done in Butler to get them ready to be used here. After that, PennDOT will make the final determination as to when they will go in service. Three additional Gillig buses are expected to be delivered in about a month.
A natural gas fueling station near the authority bus garage is not expected to be completed until sometime next year. So the Authority is currently looking for a contractor to provide temporary fueling for the new buses.
Written by Ryan Saeler
