by Aaron Lopez
Refuel Colorado Fleets
TRINIDAD — The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) has awarded a $60,000 Alternative Fuels Initiative grant to South Central Council of Governments Transit to buy down the purchase cost of three compressed natural gas (CNG) minivans and one CNG transit bus. The award represents the first DOLA Alternative Fuels Initiative Grant in the Trinidad area. “This award is an excellent first step towards South Central COG Transit’s vision of becoming the first truly clean energy fleet in southern Colorado,” said Walt Boulden, Executive Director of South Central COG.
In looking at the organization’s aging fleet of small transit buses, SCCOG Transit Director Nate Vander Broek became convinced to move ahead with CNG vehicles after working with the Refuel Colorado Fleets program, a free technical assistance program funded by the Colorado Energy Office, and learning the environmental and economic benefits of using CNG.
“CNG is a cleaner and historically lower cost fuel, and using it will help build toward a more sustainable future,” said Vander Broek.
The DOLA Alt Fuels Initiative program, launched in 2014, helps local governments, counties, special districts and school districts buy down the incremental cost of alternative fuel vehicles. It complements some of the highest state tax credits in the United States offered to tax paying businesses and consumers in Colorado that offset the higher cost of alt-fuel vehicles.
By helping local governments purchase alt-fuel vehicles, and CNG vehicles in particular, the DOLA initiative works in tandem with the Colorado Energy Office’s ALT Fuels Colorado program to drive more fuel sales at the new CNG fueling stations being built across Colorado.
For South Central COG Transit, which is based in Trinidad and serves Las Animas and Huerfano counties, the move to CNG comes right as Sparq Natural Gas opens a new fueling station in Trinidad. The new fueling station is one of 15 in the state to benefit from the ALT Fuels Colorado grant program managed by the Colorado Energy Office. By 2018, the program will achieve construction of an intrastate network of 25 to 30 strategically placed, publicly accessible fueling stations, offering statewide mobility for fleets and individual motorists operating on CNG.
Sparq’s Trinidad CNG fueling station will serve regional and coast-to-coast heavy-duty trucks travelling along I-25 and Highway 160, as well as local fleets and state agencies, including South Central COG Transit, the City of Trinidad, Las Animas County, Pioneer Natural Resources, Colorado Department of Transportation, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
CNG yields savings for transit agency
South Central COG Transit operates year round, Monday through Friday. The service also takes Las Animas and Huerfano county residents to and from Pueblo three days a week and to Raton, N.M., on request. In 2014, the transit agency provided 28,000 passenger trips.
The new combination of vehicles planned for purchase using the DOLA grant award also sets an example for fleet efficiency. The wheelchair-accessible minivans will replace three existing transit vehicles, and will be used on routes that typically have fewer passengers.
“By exchanging these old vehicles with new, CNG minivans, we’ll be running a more efficient vehicle on those routes. And CNG is a more affordable, cleaner and locally produced fuel,” said Vander Broek.
Replacing the four gasoline transit vehicles with three CNG minivans and one small CNG transit bus will yield lower fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetime of the vehicles, said Vander Broek. He estimates fuel savings at $11,200 per year, a reduction in the transit agency’s petroleum consumption by 11,700 gallons per year, and greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 59 tons of CO2 per year.
South Central COG Transit has also discussed possible natural gas fuel purchase contracts with Sparq that can yield additional fuel savings.
The transit agency is also looking at a multi-year plan to replace the remainder of its fleet of small transit buses with CNG models, Vander Broek said. Starting in 2016, the agency will begin procuring the CNG vehicles.
For more information on the Refuel Colorado program, call Aaron Lopez at 719-845-1133 ext, 217 or visit www.refuelcolorado.com/refuel-colorado-fleets
For more information on the Colorado Energy Office’s ALT Fuels Colorado program, visit www.colorado.gov/energyoffice/alt-fuels-colorado
