Thousand Oaks to Buy Fleet of Natural-Gas Buses

Thousand Oaks has obtained a $1-million grant to buy a fleet of four buses that run on natural gas, city officials said Friday, a move that will improve service and reduce air pollution.

The new buses are expected to arrive next year, Public Works Director John Clement said. When they do, Thousand Oaks will be the first city in Ventura County to operate natural-gas-powered vehicles.

“They’re longer-lasting, and they’re cleaner-burning,” Clement said.

The buses have seats for 35 passengers and will cost about $150,000 to $200,000 apiece. The rest of the grant--which was awarded by the federal Department of Transportation--will be spent for start-up costs, maintenance and possibly a fifth bus.

They will replace four, 25-seat shuttle buses that now make up the Thousand Oaks Transit fleet. The existing diesel-powered shuttle buses need to be replaced because they are becoming a maintenance problem, Clement said.

“It’s an inconvenience to the public when they break down, and they break down frequently,” he said. “They just aren’t designed for the hills that we have.”

Thousand Oaks also is facing federal regulations that will soon require cities to operate vehicles that run on cleaner-burning fuels such as natural gas or methanol, Clement said.

The Public Works Department is also considering replacing its fleet of six pickup trucks with vehicles that run on natural gas, he said.

Compared to diesel vehicles, buses that run on natural gas contribute significantly less of the pollutants that cause smog, a Ventura County air pollution official said. Natural-gas buses produce one-third of the nitrogen oxides and about half the hydrocarbons that diesel buses produce.

“This is the cleanest bus we’ve seen,” said air pollution control engineer Mike Villegas.

The switch to another fuel means the city may have to build a new filling station.

Thousand Oaks is working with Southern California Gas Co. to build a natural-gas filling station that could be used by other company fleets around Ventura County.

City Councilman Frank Schillo, who serves on the County Transportation Commission and heads the city’s Citizen Traffic Committee, said the new buses are part of a plan to improve the public transit system in Thousand Oaks.

In addition to the natural-gas buses, the city is considering a consultant’s recommendation that routes be expanded and a new transportation center be built to accommodate more riders.

“We’re coming up with some sort of plan for a transportation center in the city, a hub that interconnects with buses going to Los Angeles or Simi Valley,” he said.

City officials say improvements in the transit system have helped to increase the number of passengers during the past seven years, officials said.

In 1985, only 51,288 passengers rode the bus in Thousand Oaks, city Transportation Manager Roy Myers said. Last year, 117,886 passengers rode municipal buses.

Thousand Oaks is not the only community looking at natural-gas-powered buses. South Coast Area Transit, which serves Ventura, Oxnard and western Ventura County, is looking at replacing at least half of its fleet of 37 buses with vehicles that run on natural gas or another clean-burning fuel, said Maureen Hooper Lopez, director of planning and marketing. That decision will be made early next year.

Mary Travis, manager of transit programs of the County Transportation Commission, said the agency has endorsed the city’s switch to natural gas.

“We do have a severe air-quality problem in this county,” Travis said. “Any time we have an opportunity to improve that, we’re enthusiastic about it.”