August 29, 2025. The Cambria County Transit Authority’s urban fleet of buses will all be fueled by compressed natural gas in 2027.
Three more buses were approved for purchase by CamTran during its late July meeting, enabling the authority to phase out its only remaining diesel buses that still use Greater Johnstown routes, officials said.
The 35-foot-long CNG buses were purchased at a price tag of $750,000 each, authority officials said during the meeting. Those buses run at a fraction of the cost of diesel, which was more than $4 per gallon this week. They historically also carry reduced maintenance costs.
Heavy-duty bus-maker Gillig Corp. will supply the new buses through the state’s procurement contract.
“We won’t have to carry all the diesel parts in addition to all the CNG parts,” CamTran Chief Financial Officer Kim Morley said, noting that all 38 of the authority’s urban buses will run on the same components.
Urban fleet buses are maintained at CamTran’s location in Johnstown’s Woodvale section.
The new buses aren’t set to be delivered until 2027, she said. That will give CamTran time to work out logistics issues on its remaining routes.
CamTran Chief Operations Officer Robert Johnson said the authority’s Ebensburg-area-based rural fleet, which relies on smaller vehicles overall, will remain diesel. CamTran has 41 rural vehicles, 20 of which are CNG models, Johnson said.