COTA is replacing four diesel-powered buses with four new buses powered by compressed natural gas. Credit: Lantern File Photo
The Central Ohio Transit Authority received a $1.89 million grant from the Ohio Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant to help replace four older diesel-powered buses with four new buses fueled by compressed natural gas.
COTA’s grant is part of nearly $10 million in grants the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Transportation awarded to eight Ohio transit systems, the agencies announced Jan. 13. The money will be used to replace 40 diesel-powered buses with buses powered by cleaner energy, such as compressed natural gas, according to the Ohio EPA. The program is estimated to reduce air pollution by more than six tons each year.
According to the Ohio EPA website, the grant covers 80 percent of the cost of replacing buses.
Ohio State students who pay the $13.50 semesterly university COTA fee can ride any COTA bus with their BuckID. COTA bus fare is typically $2 per ride.
Jeff Pullin, the public and media relations manager for COTA, said COTA has been replacing diesel-powered buses for the past few years, with the goal of completely eliminating them by 2025.
“We have a total fleet of more than 300 buses,” Pullin said. “More than half of them are compressed natural gas, which burns cleaner and costs less money than diesel.”
COTA is moving forward with plans to add electric buses to their transit system as well. Pullin said that COTA will begin testing electric buses this year, with the hopes of adding eight new electric buses to their fleet in 2022.
“By 2025, we’ll just be compressed natural gas or electric, but no diesel anymore, and that’s pretty awesome,” Pullin said.
Carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are additional emission concerns from diesel-powered buses, Carolyn Watkins, chief of the office of environmental education at the Ohio EPA, said. Matt Bruning, the press secretary for ODOT, said the newer buses may also help reduce service disruptions and operational costs.
“Trying to keep an older bus on the road is going to cost more just from a standpoint of maintenance costs, trying to find parts that will still work on some of these older buses,” Bruning said. “Certainly, the newer buses tend to break down a lot less, so that’s a lot less service disruptions.”
The joint initiative between the Ohio EPA and the ODOT is focusing on the diesel-powered bus emissions due to the environmental and health impact of the pollutants — with extra concern on finite particles and nitrogen oxides — Watkins said.
“When the exhaust from a diesel engine is put out the tailpipe and then wafts around and interacts with sunlight, it can create ozone smog,” Watkins said. “That has another set of health issues and concerns for people who are exposed to it.”
Fine particulates pose a problem because they travel deep into the lungs, a particular concern for older adults, children and people with asthma, Watkins said. Nitrogen oxides can lead to ground-level ozone — commonly known as smog.
