May 3, 2025. The Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) officially unveiled its new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
“Bringing on these new buses this week signifies a long-term commitment to making sure we have good public transportation,” said Grier Hopkins, the Borough Mayor.
The new buses are already on the road, according to Hopkins, something that’s only been possible recently following testing of the fueling system.
There are three of these compressed natural gas buses in operation at the moment.
“We’re going to have a total of 13 of these buses coming on in the next 10 to 12 months,” Hopkins explained.
He said about six more buses will be added to the fleet in the fall and possibly a few in the winter.
“The buses these are replacing are nearly 20 years old now and well past their mileage,” according to Hopkins, the new buses should also cut down on maintenance.
With both the buses and the new transportation facility fully operational, the borough can store all the vehicles in a heated warehouse and can defuel the buses for maintenance operations.
This will allow the borough to utilize that fuel to refill the buses rather than wasting the fuel, according to Michelle Denton, the Transportation Director for the Borough.