In alignment with California’s Innovative Clean Transit mandate, Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) will be converting its fleet of buses to 100% zero emission by 2040. To meet the requirements of the mandate, RTA needed to create a comprehensive and sustainable plan outlining how they were going to achieve this goal.
We conducted a system-wide analysis comparing RTA’s current fleet of buses operating fixed-route transit in the western Riverside County service area to zero emission buses (ZEBs). Reviewing the operational and financial impacts of a full fleet conversion, we examined the difference in capital and operating costs of new battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell bus technology versus a compressed natural gas or gasoline bus. We also examined the capital costs of associated ZEB infrastructure and rehabilitation or purchase of interim non-ZEB vehicles and infrastructure, along with the overall operating cost impacts. We also did block-level performance modeling of zero emission transit vehicles including duty cycle generation and energy modeling.
From our analysis, we developed a recommended ZEB mode and provided a rollout plan for fixed-route revenue fleet conversion by 2040.
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