The City of Ames has recently announced that CyRide will be adding two new battery electric buses to their fleet.

These new additions, scheduled to arrive in June, will help lower carbon emissions, control noise pollution and have reduced operating costs.

“CyRide has been planning for electric buses since 2018 and has been working with the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) to develop strategies for the implementation of electric buses into CyRide’s fleet,” said James Rendall, assistant director of fleet and facilities. “The two buses expected to arrive in the summer are planned to be followed up with more battery electric bus purchases in the future as well.”

These two new buses were funded by the Federal Transit Administration Low or No Emission Grant program and the Iowa Department of Transportation Volkswagen Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust for a total of almost $2 million.

CyRide bus routes vary in length, spanning from three miles to seven miles long. The oldest buses in the current fleet get an average of three miles to the gallon. Newer buses may reach up to five miles per gallon. CyRide plans to replace the oldest and least efficient buses with these new electric buses.

These new buses are from the same manufacturer as previous CyRide buses, although they will have a new design to set them apart from the rest of the fleet.

Public transportation decreases the number of cars on the road and the carbon emissions they emit. Battery electric buses will improve on this further. Battery electric buses will also reduce noise pollution on and around campus. 

This is not the only effort the City of Ames is making to be more environmentally friendly.

“The City is about half-way through its work on developing a community-wide Climate Action Plan with the ambitious goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 83% of the 2018 levels by 2030 and to be net-zero by 2050,” said Susan Gwiasda, City of Ames public information officer. “Low carbon action will help residents rethink how we build and heat our homes and businesses, move around our community and power our lives.”

This plan currently includes: an increasing number of hybrid or electric city and police vehicles, the use of biodiesel snowplows, adding more electric vehicle charging stations for public use, encouraging glass recycling and rebates offered for energy saving appliances. 

Visit the City of Ames Climate Action Plan website for more information.