Funding is from state’s share of VW settlement money The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently announced that more than $24 million is now available to replace diesel-powered transit buses with new all-electric transit buses. Transit-bus replacements are targeted at New […]
Funding is from state’s share of VW settlement money
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently announced that more than $24 million is now available to replace diesel-powered transit buses with new all-electric transit buses.
Transit-bus replacements are targeted at New York State government entity-owned bus fleets that have bus depots located within “potential environmental justice areas (PEJAs),” or operate routes that serve PEJA areas.
DEC defines PEJAs as communities of color or low-income communities that “experience a disproportionate share of environmental harms such as vehicle emissions and pollution.”
Centro, Broome County Transit, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, Chemung County (C Tran), and Clinton County Public Transportation are among 18 New York State government entities that are potentially eligible under the program, NYSERDA said.
Centro is “not pursuing electric buses at this time,” Steven Koegel, VP of communications and business planning at the organization, tells CNYBJ in a May 27 email.
The all-electric buses will “help improve air quality, reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change, and promote investment in cleaner fuel technologies, among other benefits,” the authority contends.
As part of the state’s $127.7 million allocation of the federal Volkswagen emissions settlement, NYSERDA will administer approximately $18.4 million to fund the new electric-transit buses through the New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program (NYTVIP) and the New York Power Authority (NYPA) will manage $6 million for associated charging infrastructure.
When asked if any of the agencies in Central New York had inquired about the funding, NYSERDA responded with this statement on May 27.
“NYSERDA’s New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program has seen interest from a number of transit agencies to replace diesel-powered buses with new all-electric buses, which will help improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the state. NYSERDA is unable to discuss specific applications under consideration but we have begun receiving them from agencies across the state including Central New York,” NYSERDA told CNYBJ in an email.
“The Truck Voucher Incentive Program enables us to support fleet owners in their efforts to add cleaner, more efficient trucks and buses…,” Alicia Barton, president and CEO of NYSERDA, said in a statement. “Supporting a statewide effort to increase the use of all-electric buses and ramping up electric vehicle charging stations gives fleet owners the confidence they need to go greener and cleaner with their vehicles and hastens our ability to ultimately eliminate New York State’s carbon footprint.”
Use of funding
Funding is available to replace existing diesel-powered transit buses with model year 2009 and older engines, which must be “permanently removed from service and scrapped,” NYSERDA said.
The transit-bus replacement funds will be administered through NYSERDA’s NYTVIP, which provides point-of-sale rebates to reduce the cost for businesses and municipalities that want to purchase new, clean electric or alternative-fueled vehicles (such as commercial trucks and buses). The rebate will initially reduce the incremental cost of purchasing all-electric transit buses by up to 100 percent and help increase the number of all-electric transit buses on New York’s roadways while removing older diesel-powered vehicles trucks through a scrappage requirement.
These new all-electric transit buses will be required to be housed at bus depots or operate on routes located within “environmental justice” communities, NYSERDA said.
Clean Transportation NY
At the direction of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the DEC, NYSERDA, NYPA, the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT), Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and others, developed Clean Transportation NY.
Clean Transportation NY is New York’s plan to “strategically invest the Volkswagen settlement resources for maximum benefit and to build on New York’s national leadership on clean energy and climate change.”
The funds were secured to “mitigate damages” from the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal through the federal settlement with Volkswagen. The state’s investment of settlement funds is expected to result in at least $300 million of clean vehicles and infrastructure on New York’s roadways, per NYSERDA.
The transportation sector is currently the largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions in New York, representing about 34 percent of the state’s total emissions.