A Metro committee gave preliminary approval Thursday to spend $386 million over the next six years to purchase as many as 525 new buses to replace its aging fleet — including 500 diesel hybrid and 25 natural gas buses.
But a District law meant to ensure that buses running through city streets are as environmentally friendly as possible could backfire, forcing the city to receive the “oldest and dirtiest” of the transit agency’s fleet, Metro officials said.
Yet only the natural gas buses could run in the District under a law passed by the D.C. Council in 2004 that prohibits the purchase of any “diesel buses or diesel-electric hybrid buses” for the city.
Metro interim General Manager Dan Tangherlini said the 25 new gas, or CNG, buses are all the system can handle without building new fueling facilities that could cost the city tens of millions of dollars. As the fleet is replaced, only the”best of the old” buses would be sent to the District.
“What you’re going to have is a bipolar fleet with the cleanest and the dirtiest,” Tangherlini said.
D.C. Council Member Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, a Metro board member, said the legislation passed had good intentions but does present “a challenge.” He said he expects to discuss the matter with other council members.
