Portland's TriMet Making Plans to Get on the Electric Bus

"TriMet has a nearly $500 million plan to phase out its diesel buses [pdf] - significant emitters of carbon into the atmosphere -- while buying a new fleet of electric vehicles over the next 22 years," reports Andrew Theen.

The plan is made all the more ambitious by the fact that the agency currently has zero electric buses operating its fleet.

He benefit will be realized in the environment, according to Theen. "TriMet uses about 6 million gallons of diesel fuel every year, emitting about 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the region's air, according to its analysis. Diesel vehicles are a large contributor to carbon emissions, and freight traffic, school buses and other diesel-based industries also emit deadly exhaust in Portland's air."

TriMet isn't the only transit agency adding electric buses to its fleet. According to Theen, 38 transit agencies in the United States "have a battery electric bus in hand already or have ordered one," and China already has 400,000 electric buses. Accordign to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and released in May, the world's bus transit systems will be 80 percent electric by 2040.