Foothill Transit, an environmental leader

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted: 9/17/2014 

Keeping the San Gabriel Valley healthy and protecting the environment are important to residents and businesses alike. The region has seen much improvement in recent years. The air is cleaner and the mountains are no longer hidden in gray "haze". 

One company in particular stands out as a leader in environmental stewardship - Foothill Transit.

Since 1988 Foothill Transit has been transporting people around the San Gabriel Valley. It all began when the Los Angeles County transit system announced that it would cut service and raise fares. Knowing these changes would hurt the San Gabriel Valley, a group of cities formed a joint powers authority and assumed 14 lines of service that had previously been provided by the county-wide transportation authority.

Twenty-six years later, Foothill operates 331 buses on 33 fixed-routes, covers 327 square miles, and serves 14 million customers per year. 

In addition to providing on-time, quality transit service, Foothill Transit is committed to environmental protection and sustainability. In 2002, the agency began its conversion to a compressed natural gas or CNG fleet. Since then, Foothill has put 316 CNG buses into service and retired its diesel fleet in December 2013.

In 2011 the agency became the first transit agency in the United States to embrace zero-emission bus technology by purchasing the first of its kind all-electric Ecoliner. The Ecoliner is the first electric bus to utilize in-route fast charging capability. Everything on the bus including the air conditioning is powered by electricity.

The Ecoliner incorporates elements borrowed from Formula-1 race cars and naval and tank technologies designed to reduce vehicle weight without compromising safety. 

Using the rapid charger located on its roof, the Ecoliner can dock at charger stations along its route and recharge from 20% to 90% in less than 10 minutes. The rapid charge technology allows the Ecoliner to remain in service throughout the day.

And Foothill Transit was the first California transit agency to order the next generation of electric buses called the Proterra Solution.

It's not just their green fleet and the automobiles that are being supplanted from our roads that make Foothill Transit "green".

In 2012 Foothill even began producing its own green power with solar panels on the roofs of the Arcadia and Pomona Operation and Maintenance Yards. The combined facilities generate over 420,000 kilowatt hours of energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 218 tons per year.

Day after day Foothill Transit continues to make the San Gabriel Valley a better place to live and grow a business.