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We got interested in the Utica Shale in 2011. We think that the long-term sustainable outcome
of the Utica is the manufacturing and the transportation transformation that can occur. I think what
SARTA did was pioneer work. It provided a public station for companies that were in
the forefront of making that conversion.
The biggest thing is what we're doing for the environment. Plus, the fuel, the savings.
$100 a day. I'm very proud of the natural gas and the drilling that's taking place in
Ohio and how much we're getting. And we're keeping stuff at home here.
And we looked at the various fuels, and we also were looking at evaluating the CNG at
the same time, and we made a decision that probably for the long-term use of the fleet
that natural gas made the most sense for us, because the cost differential and really the
environment impacts for it. And so we decided at that point in time to go ahead and put
the infrastructure in for natural gas.
It was about a year-long process. It took us to go through that process of actually
construction of the CNG facility ourselves. And the funding then was through the Federal
Transit Administration, and also indirectly some of the stimulus funding that came through
Clean Fuels Ohio.
It's really giving us a chance that I think that we the public sector can take is leading
by example and showing that using alternative energies and using natural gas is just the
next logical step in really the evolution of how our state fleet and how our fleets
are going to use a cleaner-burning fuel.
Well, we're extremely excited about it because I've been around the oil and gas industry
for the last five to six years, and I see the benefits of CNG and the benefits it's
gonna have for people like SARTA. And the biggest thing is it's cleaner-burning fuel.
And then the other thing that's really big to me is we need to be independent of foreign
oil.
It has a little bit of get-up, actually. A lot of people probably think it would ride
a little slower or whatever, but it picks up pretty good. I enjoy driving it, and it's
nice and quiet. It's a more pleasurable ride. I don't have all the noise. I can conversate
with all of my passengers.
They run pretty good. You wouldn't notice any difference, except it's quieter. So it
has to be cleaner and more healthy.
Well, they're nice, because it keeps the smell down from the old diesels that really made
a mess. And it's a lot cleaner. You're not breathing in the dangerous fumes from diesel.
I like that it's economically better too. It keeps the cost of my bus ride down.