Diesel era ends: Hazleton buses now all run on compressed natural gas

The diesel era has ended for Hazleton buses.

Hazleton Public Transit replaced its last two diesel buses with buses powered by compressed natural gas.

Now the fleet has 11 buses that run on natural gas, completing a conversion that began when the city purchased its first natural gas bus in 2018.

Buses refuel at Hazleton Regional Airport at the John Ford Bus Storage and Maintenance Facility that opened in April 2024 and is named for the former mayor and HPT board chair.

At the facility, gas from a pipeline is processed and condensed so it can be pumped into the buses.

HPT director Ralph Sharp said drivers fill a bus with compressed natural gas just like they put gasoline into a car by opening a flap and gas cap. The fuel tanks, however, are on the roof of the buses.

A gallon of compressed natural gas costs about $1 less than diesel fuel so Sharp estimates HPT saves, perhaps, $80,000 a year on fuel by changing fuel types.

Natural gas burns cleaner but still puts out greenhouse gases.

“It’s better for the environment,” Sharp said.

In heavy vehicles like buses, compressed natural gas emits 20% less carbon dioxide than gasoline or diesel, Love’s Alternative Energy said on its website.

Natural gas buses are easier to maintain, Love’s website said, because buses don’t have diesel particulate filters or need diesel exhaust fluid.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation paid for all Hazleton’s natural gas buses through grants.

The two newest buses, made by Gillig, cost approximately $640,000.

Sharp said they’re rated to last at least 10 years and travel 500,000 miles before being replaced.

Natural gas buses have safety features, and local fire departments attended a clinic about them led by representatives of Trillium, which built the refueling facility.

Buses can go 300 miles or more on a tank of natural gas so the drivers only have to fill them once a day at the facility, where they park indoors overnight.

HPT still operates one bus powered by gasoline that is shorter than the natural gas buses to negotiate side streets, Sharp said.

He said the old diesel buses will be used for spare parts and then scrapped.