First Of 29 Public-Private Partnership CNG Fueling Stations Opens In Johnstown

Gov. Tom Wolf Thursday announced the opening of the first of 29 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling stations planned as part of a Public-Private Partnership.

PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Toby Fauver and P-3 Office Director Mike Bonini joined officials from Trillium CNG, Cambria County Transportation Authority, and state and local officials in Johnstown to mark opening of the facility.

“This innovative P3 is allowing us to help transit agencies save money and take advantage of plentiful supplies of natural gas produced right here in Pennsylvania,” Gov. Wolf said. “We applaud Trillium for reaching this first milestone and look forward to continued progress on this initiative.”

Through the $84.5 million statewide project, Trillium will design, build, finance, operate and maintain CNG fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites through a 20-year P3 agreement.

Following the opening, other stations will be constructed over the next five years and Trillium is also making CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities.

CNG fueling will be accessible to the public at six transit agency sites, with the option to add to additional sites in the future.

The CNG station in Johnstown is available to the public, including for trucks. PennDOT will receive a 15 percent royalty, excluding taxes, for each gallon of fuel sold to the public, which will be used to support the cost of the project.

The team has guaranteed at least $2.1 million in royalties over the term of the agreement.

Using the P3 procurement mechanism allows PennDOT to install the fueling stations faster than if a traditional procurement mechanism was used for each site, resulting in significant estimated capital cost savings of more than $46 million.

When the project is completed, the fueling stations will supply gas to more than 1,600 CNG buses at transit agencies across the state.

A list of agencies participating in the CNG P3 project, in order of construction-start timeline, follows:

-- Cambria County Transportation Authority, Johnstown Facility (2017), includes public fueling

-- Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, York Facility (2017), includes public fueling

-- Mid Mon Valley Transportation Authority (2017)

-- Cambria County Transportation Authority, Ebensburg Facility (2017)

-- Westmoreland County Transportation Authority (2017)

-- Centre Area Transportation Authority (2017)

-- Beaver County Transportation Authority (2017)

-- Crawford Area Transportation Authority (2017)

-- New Castle Area Transportation Authority (2017), includes public fueling.

-- Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Allentown Facility (2017)

-- County of Lebanon Transportation Authority (2017)

-- Altoona Metro Transit (2017)

-- Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Gettysburg Facility (2017)

-- Butler Transportation Authority (2018)

-- Indiana County Transportation Authority (2018), includes public fueling.

-- County of Lackawanna Transportation System (2018), includes public fueling.

-- Erie Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2018), includes public fueling.

-- Mercer County Regional Council of Governments (2019)

-- Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation System (2019)

-- Monroe County Transportation Authority (2019)

-- Area Transportation Authority of North Central PA, Bradford Facility (2019)

-- Area Transportation Authority of North Central PA, Johnsonburg Facility (2019)

-- DuBois, Falls Creek, Sandy Township Joint Transportation Authority (2020)

-- Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Easton Facility (2021)

-- Luzerne County Transportation Authority (2021)

-- Schuylkill Transportation System (2021)

-- Transit Authority of Warren County (2021)

-- Capital Area Transit (2021)

-- Port Authority of Allegheny County (2021)

For more information on the program, visit PennDOT’s Public-Private Partnerships webpage.