© 2023 Cincinnati Public Radio
purple_waveback6.png
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Metro gets $2 million for cleaner diesel buses

metro buses
Michael E. Keating/WVXU
/

Since 2019, Greater Cincinnati's Metro bus system has been working to modernize its fleet. It's added 100 new buses to its 350-bus fleet in the past few years, including a number of hybrid electric and diesel buses.

Four new additions coming in the next year that will replace some of the system's oldest buses, using a different technology called clean diesel that emits fewer pollutants and is more fuel efficient.

Spokesperson Pat LaFleur says the new buses add to Metro efforts to go greener.

"As engines age, they will emit more fumes and things of that nature," he says. "So one of the simplest things we can do to reduce our emissions is get new buses. The fact that these are clean diesel burning buses makes it all the better."

A grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Diesel Emissions Reduction program will provide $1.9 million for the purchase of the buses. The grants are administered by the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Nick Swartsell is a general assignment reporter for WVXU. Before his current role, he worked on the station’s Cincinnati Edition program as assistant producer and was a journalist for outlets in Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., and Texas prior to that. When he’s not reporting, he likes exploring places he probably shouldn’t on his bike, taking photos, and growing corn, tomatoes and peppers that are, in all honesty, much too hot for any practical use. He is from Hamilton. You can find him at @nswartsell on Twitter.