Last month, MTD retired the last four diesel buses in their fleet. This month, eight more hybrid buses have joined the fleet, four 40 foot and four 60 foot. That brings the bus total to 118, with mostly hybrids, and two hydrogen fuel cell buses (shown above), which were introduced a couple of years ago.
They made a fun TikTok about it.
@ride.mtd Meet the new kids in town! We've got four new 40ft hybrids and four new 60ft hybrid buses.#Transit #lowemission #hybrid #uofi #numtot #chambana #Illinois #uiuc ♬ original sound – rideMTD
MTD is also the recipient of a more than $6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s Low- and No-Emission competitive grant program which, according to the press release, “provides transit agencies with support to modernize facilities and purchase new, lower- or zero-emission vehicles” Here in C-U, it will fund ten, 40-foot diesel electric hybrid replacement buses.
After the enduring the smoky mess of the last two days, this is good news, right?