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NEWS HEADLINES

San Joaquin: Committing to Sustainability

San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) in Stockton, CA, takes community and environmental improvement seriously.

Following the Environmental Protection Agency’s designation of Stockton as a nonattainment area for air quality standards and CalEnviroScreen 3.0 data ranking neighborhoods along the Stockton industrial corridor in the 96th percentile of California’s most environmentally burdened and vulnerable communities, the RTD Board of Directors passed a resolution in August of 2017 to convert 100 percent of its bus fleet serving the city to zero-emission electric buses by 2025.

History of Commitment
RTD’s zeal for sustainability began even earlier: in 2004, with introduction of the first low-emission, diesel-electric hybrid bus to the fleet.

RTD Chief Executive Officer Donna ­DeMartino said, “When I arrived in 2001, RTD had already selected to go the diesel rather than CNG path. I knew our long-term goal was to reduce dangerous emissions as much as possible, and hybrid-electric buses offered many benefits; they reduced particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions over 90 percent, provided fuel savings and helped reduce operating costs.”

By 2007, RTD had 33 hybrid buses on the road, but they wanted to do more.

In 2013, RTD explored electric bus technology with a $2.56 million grant from the California Energy Commission. Deploying two all-electric buses on two routes, RTD evaluated this technology with the help of local utility PG&E, which waived peak demand fees during the test period. The trial was deemed successful after tracking performance for two years.

Encouraging Results
Findings from the trial revealed a monthly savings of 500 gallons of diesel fuel, which reduced greenhouse emissions by 15,000 pounds—equivalent to planting 300 trees per month. After the successful pilot, RTD obtained 10 more electric buses and a new charging system in 2017.

In August of 2017, RTD deployed four all-electric buses along a BRT route in South Stockton, making it the first fully-electric BRT route in the nation, and reported an overwhelmingly positive public response.

The 12 buses already deployed save an average of 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel per month, which translates to approximately 44,900 kilowatt-hours of usage.

To operate the route, RTD placed two chargers at the Downtown Transit Center (DTC), a major transportation hub in San Joaquin County. The charge time averages 12 to 13 minutes per charge (including charge connection time), which is built into the route’s timing.

Looking ahead this year, RTD is awaiting the arrival of five more electric buses and is preparing to “electrify” two more BRT Express routes later this year.

The Future of RTD’s Sustainability Commitment
The strategic initiative to improve air quality and save taxpayer money has not stopped with the move to electric buses—RTD is also developing a plan for self-sustaining power consumption for its fleet and facilities, which include two transfer stations, the Regional Transportation Center (RTC) maintenance facility and a local transit hub.

RTD has already secured partial funding for the Solar and Transit Electrification Project, which includes a two-megawatt solar power panel installation at the DTC and RTC. This initial phase of the project will eliminate 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually. RTD estimates that this project, totaling $10 million dollars, will also generate approximately 240 jobs.

A Winning Solution
Electric bus service makes sense for the city of Stockton and San Joaquin County. This initiative will vastly improve the area’s air quality and quality of life for residents.

RTD advises other agencies looking to pursue electrification to investigate the associated electricity costs and infrastructure requirements. Since electric buses typically contain less metal than diesel buses to save weight, RTD’s facility gates did not register the new, electric buses as such because they used metal detectors to signal when a bus was present. RTD solved this issue by installing electric eyes that recognize the electric buses. The importance of obtaining comprehensive training from the charger manufacturer was also important to RTD and should be a consideration for other agencies wishing to conduct charger maintenance in-house. Care should also be taken to build into route schedules time for docking at charging stations.

Because of RTD’s commitment to sustainability, the Women’s Transportation Seminar Sacramento Chapter recently presented DeMartino with an Innovative Transportation Solutions award.

RTD is happy to share information and experiences on its electrification processes. Contact Terry ­Williams.


Related APTA Resources
APTA’s climate change and sustainability resources include best practices for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from transit and reporting transit sustainability metrics, and guidelines for sustainability and climate action planning. Click here.

APTA’s “Clean Propulsion Resource Guide” can be found here under the Bus & Paratransit tab.


A New Feature:  With this issue’s focus on electrification, Passenger Transport is pleased to introduce a new, regular feature. “CASE STUDY on … “ will examine different topics of importance to public transportation by analyzing how an organization implemented an innovative practice, product, system or service and lessons learned. The goal is to provide readers with “news to use” by describing a real-life situation that is shaping the future of public transit. Please let us know if you have subjects or actual case studies to ­suggest by contacting Kathy Golden.

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