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GREEN REPORT tanks for hydrogen, and NASA's contactor was able to convert the location into a hydrogen fueling station," explains Mary Shafer, the RTA's media relations manager. "We were able to convert the hydrogen into fuel via electrolysis, with the only emission being vapor on site. It's a big deal to have the fueling station right at our facility. It gives us more fexibility with the vehicle." Te 40-foot bus has a capacity of 57 passengers and will be in service between six and eight hours daily on various RTA routes, says Shafer. "We were able to put the vehicle right out into regular service," she says. "Our usual routes are three to four hours with a break in between, so it can usually go out for its first section of routes, and then, get fueled up and get back out for the afternoon." The hydrogen-fueled bus is on loan from ClearEdge with the electrolyzer on loan from NASA Glenn. The entire program, which includes the fueling system and bus, is valued at $3 million. RTA Board members approved a $50,000 investment in this project, which pays for the installation and use of fueling equipment. "Overall, it's important that this was something we were able to do inexpensively for taxpayers, but we really put a lot of human investment into this vehicle," says Shafer. Similar to AC Transit, the length of RTA's project is indefnite. "We were looking at between three months and a year, which is what we're able to do per federal guidelines. We're seeing if maybe we can possibly extend that," says Shafer. "We feel we can sup- TRILLIUM COMPLETES COLO. CNG STATION INSTALL In February, Trillium CNG celebrated the opening of a new CNG station at the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The station will fuel the RFTA's new bus rapid transit (BRT) VelociRFTA system, which will operate CNG buses and connect five towns from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, Colo. The fueling facility features three Ariel Corp. compressors (200 horsepower each) and can handle 280 diesel gallon equivalents per hour, with full redundancy. Trillium will also provide years of operations and maintenance support. The total cost for the compressor station was $2.5 million, with RFTA spending an additional $2.7 million on infrastructure improvements, including replacing the HVAC system and adding sensors. The agency expects to fill two vehicles at a time in about 12 minutes each. Roaring Fork currently has four Gillig CNG buses with tank assemblies from Agility Fuel Systems, using Type III cylinders from Worthington-SCI, with delivery of the remaining 18 set to occur in July. 26 < mETRO mAGAZINE APRIL 2013 ply some really interesting data for all the companies involved. And hopefully, there will be some positive things that will come from this project." PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS Te demonstration projects in Austin, Cleveland and Oakland are the results of multiple partners working together to find success. Many times, transit agencies, such as Cleveland RTA, will fnd themselves working with partners they would have never imagined working with. "It's nice to have those diferent perspectives and to be able to say 'hey, we are working with the people who launch rockets,'" says Shaffer of working with NASA on the Cleveland project. "We are really thinking about ways to be green, be good to the environment and learn from those folks who really have the expertise in fuel cells, while we share with our partners what we know from the transit business." For agencies looking to test hydrogen fuel-cell buses, or any new technology, fnding the right partners is key, according to Capital Metro's team. "You have to find people that are dedicated to the project and have, if not the available resources, the available drive to make it happen," says Murphy. "Having a dedicated team to manage a program like this is also key. CTE has lived up to every expectation in that regard." Each of the transit agencies involved report success testing the hydrogen fuel-cell buses, while being able to embark on their projects with little or no fnancial output, other than some slight infrastructure improvements — typically the installation of the hydrogen fueling station — and driver training. "Everybody's goal is to be greener, so it's a really nice option to have at least one vehicle that truly provides zero emissions," Shaffer says. "We are getting more visual comments than people acknowledging that we are green, but it's important that we are testing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Hopefully, it will lead to these vehicles being an economical alternative for feets." metro-magazine.com