Austin, Texas-based Capital Metro is debuting new, 35-foot clean diesel buses this week; these replace older buses that have reached the end of their useful life. Now through October, Capital Metro will put three to five new buses into service every week to replace a portion of the existing fleet.

The clean diesel buses meet 2010 Environmental Protection Agency Standards, producing much fewer emissions. They are 25 times cleaner than buses from 20 years ago and 10 times cleaner than 2009 buses, according to the agency.

A total of 54 New Flyer buses were approved for purchase by the Capital Metro board of directors in February as a part of Capital Metro’s bus replacement strategy to maintain a state of good repair. The buses cost a total of $23.3 million, with funding provided by $11.3 million in federal grants, $1.7 in local funding, and $10.3 million in loan proceeds. 

These buses are the first of Capital Metro’s rebranding plan to differentiate service by color. Over time, all buses used for local service will be electric-blue, the MetroRapid buses will be silver and MetroRail will continue to be red.

Later this summer, Capital Metro will install a three-position bike rack on ten of the new buses as a pilot project to test the usability and operations of the rack.

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