Foothill Transit, a joint powers authority with a 314-bus fleet covering more than 300 square miles each year in Southern California, bought 12 additional Altoona-tested, on-route charge electric buses from Proterra Inc., a provider of zero-emission battery electric transit solutions, to completely electrify its 291 route, which travels between LaVerne and Pomona.

Zero-emission electric buses are of particular interest in California, where there are many environmental non-attainment zones and California Air Resource Board (CARB) regulations, Proterra said.

Proterra recently sold its electric buses to two other transit systems: StarMetro of Tallahassee purchased an additional three electric vehicle (EV) buses from Proterra, increasing their EV fleet size to five, and the Worcester Regional Transit Authority in Massachusetts doubled its initial three bus order to six.

To keep pace with this growing demand, Proterra has doubled its production workforce, installed a second production line, added a second shift, and increased its sales staff.

In 2011, Foothill Transit became the first transit agency in the U.S. to use on-route charge electric buses.