Energy Savings Strategies for Transit Agencies (2013)

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46 Because transit has been present in Philadelphia for nearly a century, and much of SEPTA’s system was built in the early 20th century, the age of the system can pose challenges for energy efficiency efforts. Nevertheless, SEPTA has created a robust sustainability plan that strategically identifies improve- ments that can both reduce energy consumption and pay for themselves in the long term. Strategic Planning SEPTA’s current sustainability plan grew out of its 2009 board- adopted five-year strategic business plan. The business plan, developed with public and stakeholder outreach and titled Part- nering for Regional Sustainability, laid out sustainability as one of seven key objectives for strategic growth and improvement over the five-years. It identifies sustainability as part of the agency’s mission and as an area where the agency has a corpo- rate responsibility to lead. Following adoption of the business plan, SEPTA convened a cross-departmental working group to draft a sustainability program plan. This group looked to other large transit agencies that have been leaders in sustainability, such as NYMTA, to identify reasonable goals and learn what strategies might be most effective at meeting those goals. The agency also looked at private-sector, corporate, social respon- sibility plans for potential performance metrics. In January 2011, SEPTA released its sustainability plan, Sep-Tainable: The Route to Regional Sustainability (73). The plan sets 12 goals related to environmental, social, and eco- nomic sustainability. Each goal is also linked to one of the six nonsustainability objectives laid out in the business plan. SEPTA’s goals for environmental sustainability are to: • Improve GHG and criteria air pollutant emissions performance, • Improve water use and pollutant discharge performance, • Improve energy intensity performance, and • Reduce and reuse waste. SEPTA’s management structure has identified two key success factors that have been instrumental in implementing the plan. First, sustainability initiatives pass through the same decision-making process as all other projects. Before creat- ing the plan, SEPTA participated in EMS training through an FTA-funded program. The agency credits the program with integrating sustainability considerations into the corporate This chapter provides case examples profiling four diverse tran- sit agencies that have successfully implemented a variety of the energy-saving strategies as discussed in the previous chapters. These case examples draw on survey responses, phone inter- views, and agency documents. The four agencies profiled are: • Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • King County Metro Transit—Seattle, Washington • Foothill Transit—West Covina, California • 9 Town Transit (9TT)—Connecticut River Estuary, Connecticut. These four agencies vary in terms of their size, structure, and, as shown in Figure 15, their location. SEPTA and King County Metro are large agencies that offer a variety of service modes and own and operate extensive fleets and infrastruc- ture, whereas Foothill Transit and 9TT are small-to-medium- sized agencies with less diverse holdings. The organizational structures of these agencies also vary. Like most transit agen- cies, SEPTA and 9TT are independent public agencies. King County Metro is part of the larger county government. Foothill Transit, while overseen by a board of directors representing local governments, is owned and operated by a group of three private firms. These differences affect the scope of energy conservation strategies available to each agency, as well as the process by which the agency implements these strategies. Nonetheless, all four have successfully implemented a range of programs to reduce energy use both in fleets and facilities, and collectively provide all transit agencies with examples of how to reduce energy use, regardless of their size and structure. SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY SEPTA is the sixth largest transit agency in the United States as determined by unlinked passenger trips, logging almost 350 million trips and more than 1.5 billion passenger miles traveled in 2009 (6). Its ridership has been increasing since 2002, and SEPTA projects that the number of passenger trips will continue to grow over the next several years. The agency operates heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, buses, and trol- ley buses serving more than 2,200 square miles in the greater Philadelphia area. Maintaining this service requires extensive infrastructure, including nearly 1,000 miles of track, 280 sta- tions, eight bus garages, and 58 power substations. chapter five TRANSIT AGENCY SUCCESS STORIES (CASE EXAMPLES)

47 structure. Sustainability plans are often aspirational docu- ments; however, SEPTA applied the same level of analytical rigor to creating and implementing its plan as it would to any other capital project, an approach that has helped sustainabil- ity initiatives gain credibility across the agency. Second, one of the plan’s fundamental principles, which was a key requirement for the board to approve the plan, is that all sustainability initiatives must be budget-neutral. To meet this goal, SEPTA’s financial division manages the implementation of the plan, which makes it easy to identify cost-saving opportunities and funding sources, including innovative community partnerships. This arrangement helps to make the business case for energy efficiency to other divi- sions within the agency, especially because cost savings from the energy efficiency measures identified in the plan have generated funds that can be invested elsewhere. Implementation SEPTA has implemented a variety of strategies to reduce the amount of energy used both by its fleet and its facili- ties. Some of the fleet-related energy-saving strategies that SEPTA has undertaken include: • Hybrid electric buses: SEPTA’s 472 hybrid electric buses make up approximately one-third of the agency’s bus fleet. The agency reports that the hybrid buses are 38% more fuel efficient than conventional diesel buses. In 2011, SEPTA received $20 million in federal funding to continue pur- chasing hybrid buses through 2013 (see Figure 16). FIGURE 15 Case example locations. Case Example: King Country Metro Transit, Seattle, WA Case Example: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia, PA Case Example: 9 Town Transit, Estuary Region, CT Case Example: Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA FIGURE 16 SEPTA hybrid bus. Courtesy: SEPTA.

48 • Retrofits to vehicle auxiliary systems: SEPTA is retrofit- ting buses with LED lighting and electric engine cool- ing systems, which reduce engine loads. Based on trials conducted on two pilot buses, SEPTA anticipates a 10% to 12% improvement in fuel economy from the electric engine cooling units. • Wayside energy storage systems (WESS): SEPTA is work- ing with a local start-up firm on a pilot project to build a WESS at one substation on the Market–Frankford Line, the most heavily used route in SEPTA’s system, using a grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. The system will store energy generated by braking trains and will be registered as a source of distrib- uted energy for the local grid. This means that the stored energy will be eligible for use not only within the SEPTA train system, but can also be sold back to local utilities. SEPTA estimates that the energy savings and revenue from the WESS could be worth up to $250,000 per year. SEPTA has also received a $1.4 million dollar TIGGER grant to expand its WESS system, and it projects that the expanded system will save approximately 4,000 MBTUs per year (62). • Signal priority for transit vehicles: SEPTA will be col- laborating with the city of Philadelphia, which received a TIGER grant in 2011, to prioritize transit vehicles at traffic signals throughout the city. SEPTA is also working to conserve energy in buildings. The agency provides monthly reports on energy use at its various facilities. These reports include information on water use, waste diversion, energy use by source, utility bills, and year-to-year comparisons of energy use. These reports allow managers to evaluate the direct benefits of energy conserva- tion projects and help SEPTA identify successful initiatives and areas for improvement. SEPTA’s facility energy conser- vation projects include: • LEED-certified railroad station: The Fox Chase Station was the country’s first LEED–Silver railroad station (Figure 17). It features high-efficiency plumbing and water fixtures, locally sourced construction materials, and renewable energy credits to offset the fossil energy consumed at the station. • Energy retrofit funding programs: SEPTA participates in the Pennsylvania Guaranteed Energy Savings Act pro- gram, which allows public agencies to use the anticipated savings from energy efficiency measures to finance the capital costs of these measures. This makes it possible for FIGURE 17 SEPTA’s LEED–Silver railroad station. Courtesy: SEPTA.

49 to energy conservation, because King County is known for being a leader on energy and climate issues. The King County 2010 Energy Plan establishes three goals for reducing the county’s operational energy use (75): 1. Achieve a 10% normalized net reduction in energy use in county buildings and facilities by 2012 and 10% nor- malized net reduction in energy use by county vehicles by 2015; 2. Produce, use, or procure renewable energy equal to 50% of total county energy requirements by 2012; and 3. Maximize the cost-effective conversion of waste to energy. King County Metro participated in setting these goals by providing input on what level of reductions might be reason- able in the transportation sector and what strategies might be used to achieve them. Table 27 summarizes the transit- related objectives and strategies in the plan, These objectives and strategies will be further refined as the county completes its climate action plan, which will include both “specific objectives, strategies and priority actions for reducing emissions and mitigating climate change,” and “related strategies, program activities, and targets from the 2010 Energy Plan” (76). Implementation A county-wide interdepartmental energy task force and cli- mate change group, both of which include representatives from King County Metro, is responsible for implementing the Energy Plan, and individual departments within the county also have their own sustainability committees. Until recently, all decisions related to energy and sustainability were made by these two groups. However, in March 2012, the agency hired a sustainability coordinator, who is respon- sible for implementing the plan in collaboration with the two interdepartmental groups. King County considers energy-saving proposals on an ad hoc basis rather than developing them through a strategic planning process. Individual departments may suggest proj- ects that are evaluated on the basis of energy impacts, costs, and payback periods; however, projects are rarely compared with one another in considering whether they should be implemented. Because the general manager has been chair of the transportation department’s sustainability committee, achieving both employee and management buy-in for energy- saving initiatives, particularly those related to transit, has not been a challenge. To measure progress, the agency calculates GHG emis- sions and energy use associated with transit services using data on facility electricity use and fleet fuel consumption. It outlines this information in progress reports in the 2010 Energy Plan, and plans to begin reporting to the Climate SEPTA to retrofit inefficient buildings and facilities at no upfront cost. SEPTA is using the free energy audits that are also provided by the program to target the least efficient facilities, where retrofits will have the shortest payback period. The agency also takes advantage of local utility programs that compensate consumers by the kilowatt- hour for energy-saving projects. The agency earned more than $22,000 through these programs in 2011. • Agency-wide recycling program: In 2011, SEPTA began an agency-wide recycling program at pilot locations that kept 621 tons of waste from going to a landfill and achieved diversion rates of up to 22% at certain facilities. Later that year, SEPTA entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with its waste disposal contractor that will allow the agency to cost-effectively expand its recycling program, diverting more waste and creating a new rev- enue source. The program is projected to save SEPTA $103,000 in disposal costs and generate $67,000 per year through the revenue-sharing agreement. These projects demonstrate ways to use existing financ- ing opportunities to both fund energy efficiency projects and generate additional revenue. SEPTA hopes to expand its energy conservation and sustainability work through innova- tive partnerships that further leverage resources from private companies, government partners, and the community. KING COUNTY METRO TRANSIT The Metro Transit division of King County’s Department of Transportation provides transit service throughout Washing- ton’s most populous county, which includes Seattle and the sur- rounding cities and towns. The division serves an area covering more than 2,100 square miles with a population of 1.7 million with buses, trolleybuses, light rail, and the nation’s largest pub- licly owned vanpool program (74). King County Metro’s elec- tric trolley system, which consists of 14 routes that account for one-fifth of the passenger miles, is one of only five such sys- tems in the United States. King County Metro is the tenth larg- est transit agency in the United States by unlinked passenger trips, with almost 114 million trips and more than 500 million passenger-miles traveled in 2009. Unlike most large transit agencies, King County Metro is not an independent agency; it has been a part of the county government since 1995. This gives the agency access to a larger budget as well as the authority to levy taxes. A county sales tax funds 60% of the agency’s budget. The agency’s budget and direction is set by the elected county council instead of a separate board of directors. Strategic Planning King County Metro’s position within the county government means that it uses a different decision-making process than other transit agencies. This is particularly true with respect

50 TABLE 27 TRANSIT-RELATED OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES IN THE KING COUNTY 2010 ENERGY Objective Strategies Reduce Energy Use in County Operations Conduct and/or update efficiency audits of all major county buildings by 2012 and create a prioritized action plan for reducing energy use at each building or facility. Develop specific energy management plans for large, energy-intensive and/or special-purpose county facilities. Maintain accurate records of energy use for the entire county’s operations to set baselines, benchmark energy use, inform actions, and measure County Progress toward achieving targets in the Energy Plan. Increase Transit Use, Transportation Choices, and Fleet Efficiency Reduce county energy use and direct emissions from vehicles through both the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles and operational strategies. Be a Technology Leader Reduce the county’s direct emissions from vehicles through the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles, including electric vehicles. Pursue grants and loans for electrification or other innovative technologies for use in public fleets and buildings Consider energy efficiency in trolley fleet replacement. Develop applications for renewable energy in county facilities where practical and efficient and help to facilitate community development of renewable energy projects. (Including lighting at transit stations and shelters). Increase Renewable Energy Production and Procurement County divisions will transition to purchasing renewable energy as funding becomes available. Pursue Sustainable Funding Strategies Aggressively pursue grant funding to supplement county funds for energy efficiency and/or GHG-reduction efforts. Adapted from King County Energy Plan, King County Energy Task Force, Seattle, Washington, Oct. 2010 (75). Registry in 2013. Even with its energy-saving initiatives, King County Metro does not expect to meet the target laid out in the 2010 Energy Plan, which calls for the division to reduce vehicle energy use 10% below 2010 levels by 2015. This is the result of the transition from 40-foot diesel buses to 60-foot hybrid electric buses, which do not save as much energy as smaller hybrids would but have the potential to carry more passengers. King County Metro has been a leader in implementing a number of energy-saving strategies, most notably through its early and extensive deployment of hybrid electric buses. The agency purchased its first hybrid bus in 2002, and once it determined that the technology was viable the division bought a fleet of 213 60-foot hybrid buses in 2004, followed by an additional 22 in 2008, to replace 40-foot diesel buses. The bigger hybrids, which get 3.52 mpg, are less energy effi- cient than the smaller buses that they replaced, which aver- age 4 mpg. However, they were necessary to accommodate anticipated increases in ridership on many routes and are more efficient than conventional 60-foot diesel buses, which get 2.56 mpg. Beginning in 2012, King County Metro will start using a battery electric bus on a pilot basis. King County Metro uses a fleet replacement and life-cycle model that takes all agency costs and benefits into account when evaluating vehicle purchases. Using the model, and based on existing and projected operating costs, the division has concluded that hybrid buses will last longer and have lower maintenance costs than conventional buses. King County has also used this model to evaluate replace- ment needs for the 159 trolley buses in its fleet, which will need to be replaced beginning in 2014. The division’s analysis focused on the two most viable options, electric trolley buses and diesel hybrid buses, taking into account technology avail- ability, vehicle performance, life-cycle costs, possible fund- ing sources, and a wide array of environmental impacts. The analysis showed that electric trolley buses, which would be supported by an overhead wire system and a battery-powered auxiliary power unit for off-wire travel, would require roughly 32% less energy to operate, and that they would be $3.7 mil- lion less expensive to purchase than diesel hybrids. A final decision has been made to purchase the trolley buses. To complement these efforts, King County Metro engages in a number of other energy-related activities: • Service planning: King County is evaluating stop spac- ing, layover timing, and signal prioritization on all routes, particularly routes with BRT potential. These efforts are primarily intended to improve bus service, but have had additional benefits; the agency has been able to reduce the number of vehicles in service and thereby reduce its vehicle-miles traveled. • Metro incorporates green building elements in all of its projects, achieving LEED certification when feasible. King County Metro Transit will be an active participant as the county drafts its climate action plan, ensuring that transit

51 management team agency is in the final stages of drafting its Sustainability Program Plan. The plan draws on exist- ing experience and sustainability plans at peer agencies to establish a strategic direction for future sustainability efforts. Implementation Foothill Transit’s sustainability initiatives are managed by the directors of facilities, operations and maintenance, and by the sustainability manager, who work to coordinate the imple mentation of these initiatives across multiple depart- ments. The agency is currently implementing many initiatives to reduce energy use on a pilot basis through its ESMS at its Arcadia Maintenance Yard before expanding them to other facilities. To reduce fuel consumption, Foothill has implemented an Idle Reduction Policy that limits the idling time of all vehicles bearing the Foothill Transit logo, including both fleet and non- revenue vehicles, to five minutes. To enforce the policy, the agency equipped its buses with Zonar electronic fleet manage- ment systems that monitor idling time. Foothill Transit relies on observation and outreach to reduce idling in non-revenue vehicles. The anti-idling policy was one of several implementation measures, which also include fueling procedures, green pro- curement practices, and a solar energy system, that were devel- oped as part of the ESMS at the Arcadia Maintenance Yard, and are now being adopted agency-wide. Foothill Transit installed solar panels at both of its maintenance facilities in late 2011 (Figure 18). These panels are projected to provide more than 400,000 kWh per year and save the agency more than $3 mil- lion dollars over 25 years, with a 12-year payback period. Bus washing systems at both facilities now use high pres- sure washes instead of energy-intensive brushes and Foothill plans to upgrade air dryers to new systems that use half the energy of the current dryers. Both bus washers also use 85% recycled water through a reverse osmosis system. First Tran- sit, which operates the yard, saves approximately $1,000 per month on its energy bills as a result of the programs imple- mented through the ESMS. This amount does not account for the majority of savings, which accrue to Veolia Transportation. continues to play an important role in the county’s energy and climate goals. FOOTHILL TRANSIT Foothill Transit is the second-largest municipal transit oper- ator in Los Angeles County. It serves 327 square miles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, including the cities of Pasa- dena, Pomona, Claremont, and Covina, and offers express bus service to downtown Los Angeles. The area’s transit riders travel 109.6 million passenger-miles annually with its fleet of 314 buses, and its operating expenses are approximately $64.5 million annually. Foothill Transit is privately managed and operated by three firms. An executive board represent- ing 22 area cities and Los Angeles County oversee Veolia Transportation, which manages the service, owns all of the agency’s physical assets (buses, maintenance facilities, and garages), and makes purchasing decisions. Two additional firms, First Transit and MV Transportation, operate the ser- vice and perform maintenance. Strategic Planning The Foothill Transit Executive Board has always taken steps to pursue sustainable initiatives and advance environmental protection. In 2009, the agency was a founding signatory to APTA’s Sustainability Commitment, and it began reporting its GHG emissions to the Climate Registry. Since then, the agency has participated in other voluntary reporting programs related to energy use and climate change. FTA recently invited Foothill Transit to participate in its Environmental and Sustainability Management Systems (ESMS) training program at Virginia Tech. This training helped the agency create its Environmental Policy, which the Executive Board adopted in June 2011, and identify specific objectives, set targets, and create programs to implement the policy. Foothill Transit is now implementing an ESMS on a pilot basis at one of its maintenance yards, and has identified five environmental objectives for the yard’s operations: 1. Reducing CNG releases from fueling; 2. Reducing contaminated fluids and absorbents, focusing on cleaning products; 3. Reducing GHG emissions at the Arcadia facility; 4. Improving the existing stormwater runoff program, and 5. Reducing fuel consumption from idling by both rev- enue and non-revenue vehicles. Foothill has established programs, targets, and baselines for each objective, and is now monitoring the implementation of these programs through the ESMS. If the agency judges the ESMS to be successful, it plans to expand it to its other facilities. These many activities have been combined under Foot- hill’s sustainability program, and now an interdepartmental FIGURE 18 Solar panels on a foothill transit maintenance facility. Courtesy: Foothill Transit.

52 conserve energy in its conventional fleet by installing electric cooling fans to improve fuel efficiency. Foothill’s sustainability and energy programs have taken advantage of several federal and state funding programs. Table 28 summarizes these programs, the activities covered by each, and the award amounts. Foothill Transit supported its application for grant funding with information on the estimated benefits of the investments. The agency’s ongoing efforts to measure the performance of energy conservation projects, calculate impacts, and report GHG emissions to the Climate Registry have produced a wealth of data that can be used for future funding applications. Moving forward, Foothill Transit will incorporate infor- mation on energy savings in its forthcoming Sustainabil- ity Program Plan. This plan will tie existing efforts—the ESMS program, LEED-EBOM, Climate Registry, and APTA Foothill Transit is also pursuing LEED for Existing Build- ings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) for its facilities. As a first step, the agency has replaced all of the windows on the administrative building and is beginning a retro-commissioning study to identify additional improve- ments that may be needed. Foothill Transit also works to reduce fleet energy use by implementing new technologies, most notably BEBs. In 2010, the agency purchased three Ecoliner BEBs to replace CNG buses on some of its routes. The agency used federal funding from the ARRA to purchase the buses. BEBs are generally much more efficient than conventional buses, and in simulated testing the Ecoliner averages between 17.5 and 29 mpg of diesel equivalent—at least a 400% improve- ment in efficiency over a conventional diesel bus. How- ever, deployment of BEBs has been limited owing in part to their relatively short ranges; the Ecoliner can only travel 30 miles on a full charge. So far, Ecoliners have been a successful replacement for CNG buses at Foothill Transit because of new technology that allows the buses to be charged quickly en route, when coupled with careful route planning. Unlike other BEBs, which have long charging times, the Ecoliner uses fast-charge batteries that draw power from wireless overhead stations (Figure 19). These stations can charge the bus’s batteries from 10% to 95% in under ten minutes. Foothill uses the Ecoliner on a route with low overall mileage and minimal deadhead miles carefully selected to minimize charging delays. The bus reg- ularly stops for four minutes at a charging station located at transit centers on its route to partially charge its battery, and stops for ten minutes every six hours to fully charge. This arrangement makes the Ecoliner a feasible alternative to a conventional bus, and in April 2012 Foothill began a second Ecoliner run along the same route. To meet California’s Zero Emissions Bus rule, Foothill Transit purchases renewable energy credits from wind and solar power to offset the grid electricity used to charge the buses. The agency also works to FIGURE 19 Foothill Transit’s Ecoliner electric bus. Courtesy: Foothill Transit. Program Activities Award Amount ARRA Electric buses Administrative facility window replacement Solar panel installation $6.5 million South Coast Air Quality Management District Electric buses Electric bus charging infrastructure $290,000 with a local match required State of Good Repair Program Electric cooling fans coach retrofit $1,204,500 FTA/$320,000 local match TIGGER Round II Nine additional electric buses $10.2 million Adapted from interview with Foothills Transit. ARRA = American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009. TABLE 28 FEDERAL GRANT AWARDS TO FOOTHILL TRANSIT

53 because their payback period is longer than the life of the bus. However, 9TT’s hybrid cutaways do have LED lighting, because it reduces auxiliary loads on the battery, freeing up more energy to power the engine. 9TT has had a positive experience with its hybrid buses and has found that these vehicles are 10% to 25% more efficient than conventional cutaway buses. Energy savings depend on the season, because in the summer air conditioning draws power away from the battery that would otherwise go toward propulsion. 9TT periodically calculates the fuel and cost sav- ings in its hybrid vehicles. The agency is currently in the pro- cess of selecting its next round of vehicle purchases and is considering whether to continue with its current hybrid buses or opt for buses with variable torque systems, which would be cheaper, lighter, and would still improve fuel economy, but do not include batteries and are therefore unable to store a charge for later use. 9TT is limited in the other types of energy-saving strate- gies it can implement because it leases its only building and much of its bus maintenance activity is performed by con- tractors working at their own facilities. However, the agency works to reduce energy use in its offices to the extent fea- sible. For example, the agency has upgraded all office light- ing, installed a programmable thermostat, and purchased energy-saving surge protectors through incentives from the local utility and assistance from the Connecticut Energy Effi- ciency Fund, which provides a 50% match for such projects. 9TT also reduces its indirect energy use by buying only recy- cled office products wherever possible. COMMON THEMES Although the four agencies profiled in this section vary widely in terms of size, structure, and location the following success factors are present in each case: • Supportive decision makers: Each agency profiled has a board that is proactive about setting policies and goals that support strategies to reduce energy use. Although these policies may focus on energy or on related issues such as climate change and sustainability, they all serve as a basis to help agency staff identify and prioritize energy-saving initiatives. • Interdepartmental implementation staff: In most of the case examples, responsibility for developing and imple- menting energy conservation projects does not lie within a single department, but with selected staff from different departments, a committee, or a sustainability coordina- tor who works across divisions. This arrangement helps identify synergies between strategies and engages all departments in sustainability efforts. • Ongoing evaluation: Two of the agencies profiled (SEPTA and Foothill Transit) have an EMS or ESMS in place to Sustainability Commitment—into a comprehensive strategy to continue to conserve energy and reduce environmental impacts. 9 TOWN TRANSIT 9TT is a small transit agency serving the towns of Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Essex, Killingworth, Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Westbrook, Connecticut, with a fleet of 13 buses that travel more than 500,000 revenue-miles per year. 9TT’s annual operating expenses are just over $1 mil- lion. The agency was originally established in 1981 primar- ily to serve senior citizens; however, 9TT now operates a much-expanded set of transit options. In 2011, 9TT received the Community Transit Association of America’s prestigious “Rural Transit System of the Year” award. Strategic Planning The state of Connecticut’s efforts to promote energy-efficient transit have influenced 9TT’s sustainability policies and initia- tives. It operates transit systems for eight cities as CT Tran- sit and has invested in hybrid vehicles for a number of those systems. It also administers the Connecticut Clean Fuels Pro- gram, which is funded through the federal Congestion Man- agement and Air Quality program and helps public agencies cover the additional costs of purchasing alternative vehicles. 9TT’s board, which consists of nine members that represent the nine towns served, has established sustainability as a key operating principle for the agency, and has directed the agency to take advantage of the funding opportunities available for new technologies and sustainability. Implementation As a result of the available funding opportunities, 9TT’s energy conservation efforts have so far focused on purchasing hybrid electric buses. Once the agency completes purchases planned for 2012, five of its 14 vehicles will be hybrids. However, the hybrids used by 9TT are different than typical hybrid buses, because 9TT does not operate standard 40-foot buses, but rather small cutaway vehicles that consist of a bus body attached to a truck chassis, with 12 seats and space for two wheelchairs. While most hybrid buses are manufactured with a hybrid system in place of a conventional transmis- sion, cutaway vehicles must be retrofitted with a hybrid battery and electric motor that operate alongside the tradi- tional transmission. The state was initially concerned that these retrofitted buses would not be cost-effective because cutaway buses have a shorter lifespan than 40-foot buses, but found that the energy and cost savings associated with hybrid technology were adequate in spite of cutaway buses’ five-year lifespan. Other energy efficiency measures, such as LED lighting, are not cost-effective in cutaway vehicles

54 • Proactive pursuit of opportunities: All four transit agen- cies profiled are proactive about seeking funding and opportunities to collaborate with a broad variety of orga- nizations. The wide variety of federal and state programs that are available to fund energy conservation measures have provided crucial support to transit agencies; how- ever, the transit agencies have also partnered with local utilities, non-profits, private firms, and waste haulers to find innovative ways to reduce energy use. monitor implementation of sustainability programs, and all actively collect data on the costs and impacts of energy conservation measures. These data are crucial to refining strategies and useful in applying for funding from out- side sources for future energy conservation measures. As SEPTA’s policy that all sustainability measures be bud- get neutral illustrates, cost data can also help convince agency staff and decision makers that strategies to reduce energy use are fiscally sound.