Four electric buses will be deployed to the Monongahela Valley in 2026 in the continuing battle to reduce air pollution there.
The Allegheny County Health Department announced Monday it has received a $10 million grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to buy the 40-foot buses, two charging stations and any other equipment or facility changes that Pittsburgh Regional Transit needs for the buses. The electric battery vehicles will replace four diesel buses that serve the Mon Valley, one of the worst local areas for air pollution, under the EPA’s special program to help areas with chronic pollution problems.
“Allegheny County is always looking for new and unique ways to improve the area’s air quality,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a news release. “The $10 million in additional funding from the EPA will allow us to lower the emissions PRT buses produce in the Mon Valley. The grant will get the agency closer to a goal of a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2045.”
The transit agency hasn’t decided which of the seven bus routes that serve the Mon Valley will get the new buses, spokesman Adam Brandolph said in an interview. The grant also will pay for two slow-charging stations that likely will be installed either at the East Liberty or West Mifflin garage, which each serve some routes in that area.
“Placing the additional charging stations obviously will take a little bit of time, but we won’t be ordering the buses until early 2026,” he said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity. It fits with our plans to be at zero emissions by 2045.”
Patrick Dowd, acting director of the health department, said the electric buses will reduce fine particulate greenhouse gas emissions known as PM2.5. Vehicle emissions are responsible for about 25% of the air pollution in Allegheny County.
The Mon Valley buses will continue the transit agency’s transition to a fleet that produces zero emissions by 2045. It currently has two electric buses and will add five more as part of the Bus Rapid Transit project between Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.
The BRT buses will have slow-charging charging stations at the East Liberty garage and fast-charging stations at the Wilkinsburg station on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.