Tampa, Fla.’s Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) selected Love’s Trillium CNG to provide complete operations and maintenance services on its compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station. Trillium will also complete a series of upgrades to the existing facility.

“As the first transit agency in Florida to invest in CNG, we knew HART had serious long-term CNG goals that we felt we could meet,” said Bill Cashmareck, director of Trillium CNG. “We’re honored they would put their trust in Trillium’s preventative maintenance and operations services to help them continue with the transition, and we’re proud to offer that to HART and its riders.”

In 2014, HART became the first public transportation agency in Florida to convert from diesel fuel to CNG. The private CNG station uses four 300-horsepower IMW compressors. Trillium will replace three control panels and develop custom programming, allowing the station to better use available capacity. A new valve and control panel will reduce wear and tear on the compressors, and improved filtration will reduce oil carryover to the vehicles. The upgrades will result in a more energy-efficient and cost-effective operation for HART.

HART operates 34 CNG buses, with an additional 25 CNG buses to be delivered in fiscal year 2017, in addition to 39 HARTPlus vans, a service that provides transportation for people with disabilities, and eight HARTFlex vans, an on-demand van service within defined geographic zones of Hillsborough County. CNG vehicles replace current diesel vehicles when each reaches the end of its effective life. It will take three years for the fleet of vans and 10 years for the fleet of buses to transition to CNG.

Trillium took over the operations and maintenance services for HART this month, and the upgrades are scheduled to begin in the coming weeks.

This is the second agreement Trillium has entered into in Florida this year. Last month, Trillium announced the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners awarded the company a contract to design, build and maintain two new CNG facilities for the county’s bus fleet.