Foothill Transit to Electrify a Major Bus Route With 12 New Proterra Buses

Foothill Transit, a transit service, carrying 14 million passengers annually, moves forward with goal to completely electrify Route 291, which travels between LaVerne, Calif., and Pomona, Calif.

by Staff

September 10, 2013

1 min to read

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.

The Proterra EcoRide bus offers $750,000 in fuel savings per unit versus diesel, over a 16-year life cycle; 44 percent less carbon than compressed natural gas (CNG), and 87,000 pounds of carbon savings annually versus CNG.
*Photo courtesy Proterra*

Topics:EV Charging Stations Green Fleet

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