City of Phoenix to drop LNG as preferred transit fuel, going with CNG for future purchases (Tempe: purchasing)

[Pink Jazz]

According to this article:
http://phoenix.gov/citygovernment/me.../publicmeetings/meetnotices/092115

The City of Phoenix has hired a fuel consultant, and has determined that LNG buses have no future due to decreasing parts availability and lack of support for the technology. Instead, they will be purchasing CNG buses going forward, and thus has ordered 120 New Flyer 40-foot CNG buses off the RPTA contract. I wonder if they will be C40LFs, C40LFRs, or XN40s.

The City of Phoenix operates the largest LNG bus fleet in the United States, and is the latest transit agency to give up on the technology.

Here in the Phoenix area, the RPTA has given up on LNG a long time ago; the last LNG buses to be purchased by the RPTA were three ElDorado National EZ Rider IIs in 2002; all purchases by the RPTA since then have been for either CNG or diesel buses.

Also, the City of Tempe apparently has given up on LNG after the New Flyer L40LFR order in 2009, which I presume was just an experiment to determine if future purchases should be CNG or LNG. All Tempe bus orders (save for the New Flyer DE60LFRs delivered in 2011, which are diesel-electric hybrids) have been for CNG buses ever since. Tempe will be retiring their remaining NABI 40-LFW LNG buses built from 1999 to 2002 this year and will be replacing them with New Flyer C40LFR CNG buses, leaving the 2009 New Flyer L40LFR buses as the only LNG buses in the Tempe fleet.

Outside of the Phoenix area, another major LNG operator, OCTA in Orange County, California, has shifted to CNG for its latest purchases.

[observer53]

I ride the buses all the time, and frankly don't pay any attention to the manufacturer or which model it is. I am aware that they use natural gas for fuel, but again, I'm not aware if any particular reason why I should care whether it's LNG or CNG.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by observer53

I ride the buses all the time, and frankly don't pay any attention to the manufacturer or which model it is. I am aware that they use natural gas for fuel, but again, I'm not aware if any particular reason why I should care whether it's LNG or CNG.

The older buses are mostly made by North American Bus Industries (NABI), while the newer ones are mostly made by New Flyer. The newest NABI buses of all Valley Metro agencies are the RPTA's NABI 60-BRT CNG articulated buses, built 2006. All new buses since then have been made by New Flyer. Read about the fleet here:
Valley Metro - CPTDB Wiki

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

The older buses are mostly made by North American Bus Industries (NABI), while the newer ones are mostly made by New Flyer. The newest NABI buses of all Valley Metro agencies are the RPTA's NABI 60-BRT CNG articulated buses, built 2006. All new buses since then have been made by New Flyer. Read about the fleet here:
Valley Metro - CPTDB Wiki

Sorry, as I said, I don't really need to read about them or know who makes them. As long as they are comfortable, mechanically reliable, and show up on time, that's all I need.