Pittsburgh Regional Transit commits to zero-emission bus fleet

The Pittsburgh region’s largest public transit provider announced Wednesday that it wants to transition its entire fleet of buses to zero-emission vehicles in the coming two decades.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman said the agency’s goal is to have the entire bus fleet be zero-emission vehicles, either electric or hydrogen-powered, by 2045. She said PRT is committed to buying exclusively zero-emission vehicles by 2032.

She said the long timeline for the transition is due to the 12-year lifetime that PRT buses have, and it would be inefficient to take diesel-fuel buses offline before their lifetime is complete. The agency also has to scale up its charging infrastructure for electric buses, which Kelleman said takes time. It will start to increase the percentage of electric buses it purchases in 2025.

“We recognize our responsibility to move as quickly as possible to replace our fleet with zero-emissions vehicles to improve the health, safety and welfare of the communities we serve,” Kelleman said.

At a news conference near the Penn Station busway in Downtown Pittsburgh, she said transitioning the fleet will improve air quality for Pittsburghers, as well as boost the quality of life for many of those who live along bus lines. Zero-emission buses are cleaner and quieter than fossil-fuel vehicles, Kelleman said.

PRT expects to spend $1 billion over the next 20 years on the transition. The agency’s fleet currently has eight electric buses and 15 more on order to be used for the city’s Bus Rapid Transit line.

In total, PRT operates 730 buses, as well as light-rail cars that already run on electricity. According to PRT, the average cost of a 40-foot electric bus is approximately $950,000, about 60% more than its diesel counterparts.

Kelleman said the initial cost is worth it because electric vehicles save costs for gas and tend to have few maintenance costs because the engines have fewer components than diesel-powered engines. She said converting one diesel-powered bus to electric eliminates 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas over the course of the vehicle’s lifetime.

Duquesne Light currently provides the charging equipment for PRT’s electric buses, and the electric provider celebrated the announcement. Brian Guzek, Duquesne Light’s vice president of corporate strategy, said the company’s grid is prepared for the transition to electric vehicles and already is 90% powered by zero-emission sources thanks to the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Midland.

“These buses will become more quiet thanks to our team and these advocates becoming louder,” Guzek said.

Regional leaders announced this plan just a few days before World Electric Vehicle Day on Friday and in the run-up to Pittsburgh hosting the 2022 Clean Energy Ministerial, which will host several international leaders in the clean energy sector.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald praised the move but acknowledged the plan to fully transition to a zero-emission fleet is contingent on political support of leaders at all levels.

PRT’s most recent purchase of electric vehicles was funded through federal support. A PRT spokesperson said future funding will come from PRT’s budget and its ability to receive federal and state grants for zero-emission vehicles.

Fitzgerald said ensuring that the funding pool remains depends on who voters put in federal, state and local offices. He encouraged voters to back candidates who support a transition to clean energy.

“There is no guarantee,” said Fitzgerald, when asked how this plan can be sustained for decades to come. “We don’t know who is going to win the next election.”