Unveiling of Zero-Emission, Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Bus Highlights First Day of OPTA Conference
The debut of the zero-emission, fuel efficient future of public transportation was the highlight of the opening day of the Ohio Public Transit Association’s (OPTA) Annual Conference in Columbus as the first of ten hydrogen fuel cell-powered buses that will be deployed by the Canton, Ohio-based Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) was unveiled at the Ohio Statehouse. SARTA’s fleet will be the third largest in the nation and the largest operating outside California by the end of 2018.
Leading transit advocates marked the occasion with a toast, but the drink of choice wasn’t champagne, it was water drawn directly from the vehicle’s tailpipe. “We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate this landmark event or to illustrate that zero-emission means zero-emission,” Jim Gee, president of OPTA and general manager of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority said.
According to CEO and Executive Director Kirt Conrad, SARTA’s fuel cell program, which includes the purchase of the vehicles and the construction of a fueling station at the agency’s Canton, Ohio headquarters, is being funded entirely by nearly $15 million in federal and state grants. “There is absolutely no way our relatively small transit authority could have undertaken this project on our own,” he said. “The fact that we’re about to become one of the largest operators of fuel cell-powered vehicles in the United States underscores how important it is for state and federal officials to fully fund public transit.”
Conrad said SARTA’s program will drive fuel cell-related investment, research, business development and job creation in Stark County and across the state. “Honda, Worthington Industries, LG Fuel Cell Systems, Swagelok and other Ohio companies as well as universities including Stark State, OSU and Case Western Reserve, are heavily involved and invested in fuel cell-related manufacturing and R and D projects,” he said. “That means the federal and state dollars we’ve received will do more than put environmentally friendly buses on the road, they’re going to help fuel Ohio’s economy well into the future.”
Valarie McCall, chief of government and international affairs for the City of Cleveland, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Public Transit Association and the Greater Cleveland RTA, which operated one fuel cell bus on its routes during 2012 as part of a joint experiment with NASA’s Glenn Research Center, said she’s glad to see the technology return to Northeast Ohio. “We’re all confident that SARTA’s program will demonstrate that hydrogen is a practical, safe, and cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels,” she said. “Once that happens the sale of fuel cell powered vehicles for commercial and private use will take off and that’s going to be great for the environment and for Ohio businesses.”
“SARTA’s innovative and exciting project is a prime example of the way in which adequate funding can convert American innovation into American jobs,” Nancy Garland of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy commented. “Our partnerships with public and private entities are reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cutting harmful emissions and creating thousands of good paying jobs. We at the DOE commend SARTA for taking a leadership role in spurring the development of this extremely promising technology.”
Gee noted that SARTA’s fuel cell program will strengthen OPTA’s effort to convince federal and state officials to devote more dollars to public transit. “This project shines a very bright light on public transit’s wide ranging positive impact,” he said. “We provide safe, reliable affordable transportation that gets people where they need to go, our embrace of green technology like CNG, hybrids and fuel cells reduces pollution, we’re leading the nation toward energy independence, we drive technical innovation and we spur business development and job growth. It would be hard to find a sector of the economy that delivers a bigger or better return on investment than public transit.”
