ACTION ITEM 3 - Diesel & Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Transition
Pace has made major investments in CNG vehicles over the past few years. In 2018, Pace completed a compressed natural gas (CNG) bus garage in Markham that houses 98 CNG buses. Benefits of CNG include lower fuel cost, lower maintenance cost, elimination of harmful particulate pollution, and lower greenhouse gas emissions than diesel.
Nonetheless, Pace recognizes that both diesel and CNG are fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gas emissions. Moving forward, Pace will curtail new spending on diesel vehicles and limit expansion of CNG technology.
Ultimately, Pace aims to make CNG a transition technology that provides a cleaner alternative to diesel and allows the agency the prerequisite time to implement BEB and other clean fuels. As such, Pace has begun to implement steps toward converting the agency’s entire bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
Pace's first electric fixed route bus went into service in January 2024 at Southwest Division in Bridgeview. In partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation, two electric paratransit vehicles will be added to Pace’s ADA Paratransit fleet. Pace has begun electrification of the North Division facility in Waukegan, and is currently pursuing design and construction of Phase 1 improvements, which will accommodate 12 BEBs. Pace plans to complete the necessary facility renovations and have 60 BEBs implemented at North Division in 2027.
The conversion of over 700 fixed route buses to ZEBs is a complex effort that requires new vehicles and equipment, as well as upgraded facility infrastructure. Due to the size of Pace’s fleet, this effort will take decades to implement. Pace is being proactive and requesting funding to replace thirty-three 30-foot diesel buses with thirty-three 35-foot diesel-electric hybrid buses, starting the transition to cleaner vehicles, while the agency” continues facility upgrades to accommodate ZEBs.