Maryland’s Montgomery County Ride On service added 13 new, energy-efficient hybrid buses to its fleet. The new buses will offer a clean, comfortable ride to more than 10,000 commuters, seniors and others who take transit daily. The vehicles were purchased with $6.6 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
With the addition of the 12 new hybrid electric-diesel buses and one clean-diesel bus, all built in the U.S. in compliance with the Buy America law, sustainable vehicles now make up nearly two-thirds of Montgomery County’s Ride On fleet and bring the agency closer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
Montgomery County’s new Ride On buses were manufactured by Gillig LLC, based in Hayward, Calif. The buses meet the Recovery Act’s Buy America requirement, meaning all the iron, steel and manufactured materials used in the buses are produced in the U.S. The 13 new buses will be put into service on several of the county’s busiest routes in suburban Maryland.
Montgomery County’s Ride On bus service is one of the largest suburban-based transit systems in the country, carrying approximately 28 million riders a year, with connecting service to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Metrobus and Metrorail systems.