Lebanon Transit’s compressed natural gas station (CNG) will see a grand opening on January 22, so we visited Lebanon Transit’s 200 Willow Street headquarters today to get an advance look at what the facility entails.
The station was built as part of a $84.5 million public-private partnership between the state and Trillium CNG that was intended to get 29 of these stations installed at locations across the commonwealth faster than a purely public initiative could.
Trillium is owned by Love’s, which also operates its own location in Jonestown – only this Love’s pump, you can’t access unless you happen to work for another governmental agency that has partnered with Lebanon Transit.
The CNG station has been installed on the eastern side of the facility.
Lebanon Transit has not yet selected a long-term vendor to service the CNG station, with the bidding process for a “fixed price” contract still underway. The transit authority also has similar contracts for diesel and gas, saving money and gaining predictability on what can otherwise be highly variable costs.
The CNG fleet is cleaner and cheaper to operate than comparable diesel buses, and there’s no other change to the driving or passenger experience.
These buses are already in operation and if you use the system, you have probably seen or ridden one already. Who wins? We all do.
