The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) celebrated the grand opening of the East County Bus Operations & Maintenance Facility, furthering the agency’s role in improving regional air quality. The facility, which was built to LEED Silver standards, will be home to 120 clean-burning CNG buses.

“MTS is focused on improving all facets of our business to improve efficiency, reliability, passenger amenities and the air we breathe,” said MTS CEO Paul Jablonski. “The new East County Bus Operations & Maintenance Facility helps us achieve all those goals.”

A new CNG fueling station on site will allow MTS to replace diesel-fueled buses with CNG-fueled buses, which provide a 50% reduction in NOx emissions, an 85% reduction in particulate matter pollution, and an 89% decrease in CO emissions.

The 34,500-square-foot maintenance building and 10,275-square-foot administrative building sit on 5.5 acres. It was built at a cost of $38 million from MTS funds, a Federal Transit Administration competitive grant secured by MTS, Transit Development Act (state), and State Transit Assistance Program funds. The construction contractor was Clark Construction.

The new facility serves East County’s urbanized area along the Interstate 8 corridor, as well as rural and unincorporated areas in the county. It employs 115 bus operators and 14 mechanics, who will provide bus service for more than four million riders annually. Its energy-efficient designs and equipment include on-site renewable energy, LED lighting, reflective windows, water use reduction techniques, drought-tolerant landscaping, and temperature control technology. All these features will help the facility secure LEED Silver status by the U.S. Green Building Council.

In addition to the East County facility, MTS has several sites from which it operates fixed-route bus service including Chula Vista, Kearny Mesa and East Village.