The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). The original project scope included the deployment of three battery electric coach buses to operate on METRO’s Highway 17 Express route.
In the Low-No grant, METRO named Build Your Dreams Auto Co. (BYD) as a project partner to manufacture and deliver three 45’ BYD C10 battery electric coach buses. Through a series of route modeling conducted by CTE and an onsite demonstration of the C10 bus, it was determined that the BYD C10 was unable to meet the requirements set forth by METRO and the project was put on hold. After more than two years on hold, in September 2020, FTA agreed to allow METRO to proceed with the Low-No project by issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). METRO decided against the RFP and chose instead to procure 40’ Proterra BEBs for use on the Highway 17 route.
METRO currently has 40’ Proterra BEBs in the fleet that run on other routes. METRO conducted a test run of the Proterra BEBs on the Highway 17 route; the results confirmed the buses met METRO’s performance requirements. In order to move forward with procuring 40’ Proterra BEBs instead of conducting an RFP for the originally agreed upon 45’ coach buses, METRO needed to present a case to FTA in defense of this decision. CTE helped METRO compile evidence to support this effort. FTA responded and granted METRO permission to change the procurement. In August 2022, METRO made the decision to procure 40’ GILLIG BEBs instead of Proterra BEBs—the agency had enough funding for five instead of the originally planned three electric buses. As of August 2023, all of the GILLIG BEBs have been delivered to METRO.
In September 2023, CTE conducted validation testing to ensure the buses demonstrated full operational capability. CTE will present key performance indicator (KPI) results to METRO for a year following bus deployment. As of July 2024, METRO has requested that CTE hold off on beginning KPI reporting until all buses are consistently in service. Since delivery of the vehicles, METRO has experienced coolant pump issues with the buses, as well as charging issues, and they have not been able to run consistently. METRO anticipates having the issues resolved by Q42024 and then KPI reporting will begin.
