New Castle Area Transit Authority expands fleet of CNG buses

May 12, 2021. The New Castle Area Transit Authority, Pennsylvania, is continuing to expand its fleet of buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).

New Castle Transit Authority’s General Manager, David Richards told New Castle City Council on Tuesday that the authority received two new CNG buses in October, and is expected to take possession of four more in November. That will swell the size of the authority’s CNG fleet to 17 buses, the oldest of which dates back only to 2018.

Best of all, Richards said, “All 17 of those total about $10.5 million and they are all paid for with federal and state grants — zero local money involved.”

Richard believes that the environment is the top beneficiary of the authority’s CNG fleet, “but we have noticed some savings in fuel with that. The other big thing is, being part of the CNG program with the state, we have been able to receive 17 buses with zero local monies. That’s a huge benefit to New Castle. We do our best to go out and get as much as we can federal and statewide to limit the local dollars.”