Foothill Transit receives grant for CNG conversion

Foothill Transit in West Covina, Calif., received a $1.5 million grant to assist the agency's conversion to compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. The earmark, part of the 2003 transportation appropriations bill, will be used to help purchase 51 CNG buses that will go into service this year. The agency's first installment of 66 CNG buses went into operation in 2002. Foothill Transit plans to have an all-CNG fleet by the end of the decade. The grant was approved by the Federal Transit Administration to help offset the cost of the CNG buses. A CNG bus costs about $360,000 compared to about $280,000 for a diesel bus. Foothill Transit currently operates 299 buses and serves almost 17 million passengers annually.