A Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station recently held its grand opening in Swiftwater, Monroe County.
The station is part of a 20-year, $84.5 million statewide Public Private Partnership (P3) with Trillium. The company will design, build, finance, operate, and maintain CNG 24 public transit agency sites. The company also will upgrade existing transit maintenance facilities.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) “is excited to continue expanding this program, to help make transit agencies more sustainable, and create public benefits for years to come,” Jennie Granger, PennDOT deputy secretary for Multimodal Transportation, said. “Compressed natural gas provides a cost savings in comparison to diesel fuel, and it burns cleaner.”
The Monroe County Transit Authority (MCTA) plans to convert up to 42 vehicles to CNG. This will save an estimated $200,000 and approximately 180,000 gallons of diesel annually.
Officials from MCTA, PennDOT, and Trillium CNG attended the grand opening.
Once all 24 fueling stations are built, they will supply gas to nearly 700 CNG buses at transit agencies. The P3 agreement includes the option to add sites in the future.
PennDOT will receive a royalty, excluding taxes, for each gallon of fuel sold to the public at public sites.