British Columbia’s Regional District of Nanaimo has plans to add 24 new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses next year, according to the Nanaimo News Bulletin, which cites Daniel Pearce, manager of transit operations.
The report says that an original fleet of 25 natural gas buses went into service in March 2014, and now, these new buses will replace the remaining diesel vehicles in use.
According to Pearce, the regional district will lease the buses from B.C. Transit for a fee of $1.8 million, which was increased from $1.6 million. The new buses are expected to arrive in January.
The company expects fleet maintenance fees for 2016 to 2017 will drop 21%; the report states that maintenance was approximately $1.6 million during the 2015 to 2016 period and is projected to decrease to about $1.3 million this year.
Pearce adds that bus fares will not increase in the coming year.
