REDDING, Calif. - The Redding Area Bus Authority and the Shasta Regional Transportation Agency are taking a look at going green.
The Borrow a Bus Zero-Emissions Tour made a stop in Redding as it gave RABA and SRTA a chance to look at buses that give off zero carbon monoxide.
The bus on display came all the way from Ohio. The bus is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and is more efficient than gas and electric buses.
“Hydrogen fuel cell electric buses are electric buses, so they have the same emissions profile as an electric bus,” said Tim Sasseen, who is the U.S. Ballard Systems Marketing and Development Manager.
“Basically, no emissions, just water vapor. But they can go a longer range and you can fit more energy into hydrogen fuel cell bus than you can a battery-electric bus.”
Starting in 2029, new buses across all public transit agencies in California must be zero-emission buses.
“We live in a really beautiful area and so we want to preserve the quality of our environment,” said Melissa Estrada, the transportation planner at RABA.
“Currently we have 20 buses and 20 vans, so transitioning a good portion of that fleet to zero-emission buses will help to preserve the environmental quality we love in the North State.”
So far, RABA has one zero-emission bus in its fleet, which is an electric battery-powered bus.
The Borrow a Bus Zero-Emissions Tour also made stops in Marysville, Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento.
