LITTLE ROCK — Still under political pressure to add compressed natural gas buses to its fleet, Central Arkansas Transit Authority’s board of directors Tuesday put off ordering nine diesel-fueled buses.
The delay of 90 days for any order will extend the expected delivery date of replacement buses by at least 18 months.
By mid-2014, the buses to be replaced will be two years past their recommended life span and be nearing 600,000 miles each, CATA Executive Director Betty Wineland said after the meeting.
Because CATA is a small system, it tries to piggyback on a larger fleet’s order because larger fleets get higher priority from bus production companies.
“We’re looking at an 18-month delay now,” Wineland said. “If we don’t find a piggyback order, our small order will be way down the line.”
The order delay came five days after six directors from the 12-member board had tentatively agreed to go ahead at Tuesday’s meeting with a staff recommendation to order all diesel-fueled buses. The six had attended a presentation Thursday on compressed natural gas, known as CNG.
By Tuesday, however, the decision to stick with diesel buses had changed to give more time to identify possible funding sources to buy nine compressed natural gas buses instead.
Scott Hamilton, director of the state Energy Department, suggested the 90-day delay to give his office an opportunity to research grant money that could be available to CATA.
Hamilton told directors Tuesday that he would “bring you some options, and if they make sense you can move forward.” Board members didn’t discuss the delay, and no vote was needed.
“There are board members who didn’t attend the meeting Thursday who are very pro-CNG,” board chairman Nicole Heaps said after the meeting. “I wish we all could have been at the table at the same time when we heard the results of the study.”
The presentation to half of the board Thursday was by a representative of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a New Orleans-based consulting firm, about modifications needed on CATA’s garage.
The study concluded that work to modernize the garage would cost an estimated $833,000, but adding fuel pumps and other amenities to accommodate compressed natural gas buses would add another $2.36 million.
Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Sherwood and Maumelle provide a total of $11.78 million of CATA’s $15.66 million budget in 2013 in exchange for transit services. The board Tuesday unanimously approved the 2013 budget proposal.
A $1 million federal grant that CATA has received, enough for two compressed natural gas buses, doesn’t include the compressed natural gas fueling components. Compressed natural gas buses cost about $410,000 each, or about $50,000 more than diesel buses, Wineland said.
CATA also has a $1 million federal grant to renovate its maintenance facility, but that doesn’t include adding natural gas fueling capabilities, Wineland said.
The board’s change in delaying the bus order, Heaps said, came from both a political push toward compressed natural gas and from finding federal and state grants available specifically for such a conversion. Directors first considered such a switch three years ago under pressure from North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays.
“One reason is the political climate,” Heaps said. “Two of our funding entities, North Little Rock and Little Rock, either have or are on the way toward having a compressed natural gas fueling station, and they’re our two largest financial partners.
“Second, staff has applied for a series of grants and has received one to modify its maintenance facility for alternative fuel use and the other for two CNG buses,” she continued. “But there’s no way the board can approve to buy two CNG buses without a way to fuel them.”
North Little Rock opened a city-owned compressed natural gas station last year. Little Rock has received a state grant toward building its own.
CATA will need to order another 16 buses in 2014 and 2015 for delivery in 2016, at a cost of $6.5 million if all are fueled by compressed natural gas, Wineland said. The funding match from the local governments for those 16 buses would be about $1.2 million, she added.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/21/2012