The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with Gold Coast Transit District (GCTD) for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration’s 2022 Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). CTE is working with GCTD to deploy five 40’ New Flyer hydrogen fuel cell electric buses (FCEB), a hydrogen fueling station that will be able to support 50 buses, and maintenance facility upgrades to add hydrogen detection and alarming capabilities. The five New Flyer FCEBs in this project will replace GCTD’s aging compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that are at or near the end of their useful lives. By replacing aging fleet vehicles with the New Flyer FCEBs, GCTD will improve both route efficiency and provide direct air quality benefits to the surrounding community. CTE will provide technical project management and support. CTE will support GCTD in issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the hydrogen fueling infrastructure and an RFP for the facility upgrades.
The goal of this project is to directly mitigate climate change impacts and to benefit GCTD’s community by replacing GHG-emitting CNG buses with zero-emission FCEBs. This project supports the City of Oxnard’s Climate Action & Adaptation Plan. GCTD complies with and is committed to meeting all requirements of California’s Innovative Clean Transit Regulation, which requires transit agencies in California to fully transition their fleets to zero-emission vehicles by 2040. This project also allows GCTD to easily expand its fleet of zero-emission buses since the hydrogen fueling station will support up to 50 buses.
CTE traveled to Ventura County, CA in May of 2023 for the GCTD project kickoff. The project kickoff included the Bus Procurement Workshop, Hydrogen Facilities Workshop, and Stakeholder Engagement Workshop.
CTE and GCTD began bus procurement and infrastructure activities in June of 2023. GCTD will acquire the New Flyer FCEBs off the California State contract. New Flyer provided a FCEB proposal and technical specifications. CTE and GCTD are collaborating on the development of an infrastructure RFP, which was published in May 2024. GCTD selected Clean Energy to be its hydrogen station provider. GCTA and Clean Energy will finalize their contract and project timeline in September 2024.
The project is anticipated to be completed in the second quarter of 2026. The current project timeline includes eight phases: Project Planning & Initiation; Bus Procurement & Build; Infrastructure Procurement, Design & Build; Bus & Infrastructure Deployment; Deployment Validation and Key Performance Indicators; Project Close-Out; and Project Management, Administration, Reporting, and Control.
