Funds Will Pay for Cleaner Fuel Buses

The city will receive funding for several environmentally friendly buses, state Sen. Adam B. Schiff (D-Glendale) said this week.

The California Transportation Commission has approved $927,000, to be combined with matching local funds of $573,000, to buy six compressed natural gas buses.

The new buses will replace six being used along Glendale’s Beeline public transportation system, said Mark Maloney, supervisor of transportation and parking service for the city. The older buses, which also run on compressed natural gas, will be distributed among other Beeline routes.

The $1.5-million project comes at a time when use of alternative fuels has become increasingly important.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to adopt regulations to reduce diesel emissions from buses and trash trucks owned by government agencies in the Los Angeles area.

All new government-owned vehicles purchased in the region will have to be powered by alternative cleaner fuels. The AQMD concluded last year that diesel exhaust was a carcinogen, leading to such diseases as lung cancer, asthma and cardiac disorders.

The city of Glendale is already in compliance, Maloney said. All city-owned vehicles are either propane or compressed natural gas with the exception of four buses leased from a contractor.

“For us, air pollution, along with congestion, has always been very important,” Maloney said. “That’s why Beeline started. We wanted to move toward clean fuel as soon as possible, so we made a conscientious effort.”