Alabama's Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) recently purchased new compressed natural gas (CNG) powered buses from North American Bus Industries (NABI). The purchase of the buses was made possible by a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The new BJCTA fleet of NABI LFW model buses will be equipped with smooth and dependable wheelchair ramps, security cameras, audible annunciation systems and bicycle racks.

The new buses feature a dramatic new paint design, will be equipped with the newest technologies for location, announcements and maintenance, and will be used to reveal the new image of BJCTA.

"The buses help to replace an aging fleet and will be equipped with state of the art automatic systems to assist passengers and the authority with data collection," said William Copling, interim executive director at BJCTA. "The acquisition of these new heavy duty buses is part of our commitment to provide the citizens of the Birmingham area with improved transit service and to continued development of a system that better meets the needs of our passengers."

Birmingham has a history of transit dating back over 100 years and BJCTA currently operates a fleet of more than 120 fixed route and paratransit vehicles, covering a service area of more than 200 square miles.