UPDATE: After publication of this article, the City Council meeting for tonight was postponed.
Charlottesville Area Transit will present the recommendations from a feasibility study on future fuel types for the fleet, a topic that has attracted a lot of attention from advocacy organizations who have waged a campaign to convince City Council to switch to battery-electric vehicles as soon as possible.
That will take place at a work session City Council will have beginning at 4 p.m. The regular meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. (meeting overview)
This work session begins with a presentation from the Charlottesville Scholarship Program. Founded in 2001 by the City Council with an initial endowment of $250,000, 188 students have received awards and 89 have achieved a degree. (presentation)
Next up, Charlottesville Area Transit and Kimley Horn will present the recommendations for a new transit facility as well as a pathway to transition the fleet to zero emissions vehicles. Several advocacy groups have made the latter a major campaign and have pushed the city to declare it will proceed with battery electric vehicles. CAT Director Garland Williams has cautioned about the need to ensure buses are reliable as the city seeks to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals. (view the presentation)
The recommendations are:
- CAT will transition to a zero-emissions fleet by 2040
- CAT will pilot two different fuel types in the short term with the purchase of two battery-electric buses in 2024 and the purchase of hydrogen fuel cell buses in 2027. The latter would be delayed to identify a source of hydrogen
- During the pilot, CAT will continue to purchase vehicles in order meet inventory requirements for the long-planned expansion
- A final decision will be deferred while the pilot proceeds
Here are some previous stories:
- Charlottesville Area Transit to study alternative fuels, March 14, 2022
- City Council gets update on study on future fuels for CAT, August 2, 2023
- Sanders addresses community feedback on fuel for public transportation, September 11, 2023
- Charlottesville Area Transit fuel study recommendations delayed until January, November 10, 2023
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