PennDOT Selects Natural Gas Fueling Stations Public-Private Partnership Team

Department of Transportation Secretary Leslie S. Richards Monday announced the Trillium CNG team, which includes Larson Design Group of Williamsport, has been selected for the department’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transit fueling station Public-Private Partnership (P3) project.

Through the $84.5 million project, Trillium will design, build, finance, operate and maintain CNG fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites through a 20-year P3 agreement. The participating agencies and scheduled construction start timeline include—

--  Cambria County Transportation Authority, Johnstown Facility (2016), includes public fueling.

--  Centre Area Transportation Authority (2016)

--  York Adams County Transportation Authority, York Facility (2016), includes public fueling.

--  Mid Mon Valley Transportation Authority (2017)

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

--  Indiana County Transportation Authority (2017), includes public fueling.

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

--  Westmoreland County Transportation Authority (2017)

--  County of Lackawanna Transportation System (2017), includes public fueling.

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

--  Altoona Metro Transit (2017)

--  Beaver County Transportation Authority (2017), includes public fueling.

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

--  York Adams County Transportation Authority, Gettysburg Facility (2017)

--  Luzerne County Transportation Authority (2017)

--  Crawford Area Transportation Authority (2017)

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

--  County of Lebanon Transportation Authority (2018)

--  Schuylkill Transportation System (2018)

--  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)

--  Butler Transportation Authority (2019)

--  Mercer County Regional Council of Governments (2019)

--  Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation System (2019)

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

--  Transit Authority of Warren County (2021)

--  Capital Area Transit Harrisburg Area (2021)

--  Port Authority of Allegheny County (2021)

Stations will be constructed over the next five years and the firm will also make CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities.  

“The department is excited to partner on this project that will bring benefits for the state, our transit partners and the public for years to come,” Richards said. “The project’s aggressive schedule means that we’ll realize cost, environmental and operational benefits quickly.”

As part of Trillium’s proposal, CNG fueling will be accessible to the public at seven transit agency sites, with the option to add to additional sites in the future. 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.

PennDOT also expects transit agencies and the department to see significant savings due to the project. Based on current CNG, diesel and gasoline prices as well as fuel usage, agencies can save a total of more than $10 million annually.

Due to these expected savings, transit agencies’ sustainability is increased and dependency on state operational subsidies is reduced. After 10 years, the department estimates that the project will pay for itself with the estimated $100 million in savings.

“With Pennsylvania’s natural gas resources, this project will not only bring efficiencies for transit agencies and the state, but we’re also helping establish a foothold for the CNG transportation market in areas that may not have seen this opportunity for some time,” Richards said.

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.

“This is an exciting day for Pennsylvania as we connect vital citizen services with forward-looking infrastructure,” said Sen. John Wozniak (D-Cambria) who participated in the event. “I’m also pleased that this project will start in our backyard so this region can quickly reap this partnership’s benefits.”

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

“I'm happy to be working with the administration in fulfilling the natural gas promise in making Johnstown the first natural gas public-private partnership,” said Rep. Bryan Barbin (D-Cambria) who also joined the event.

The event was held at the Cambria County Transportation Authority’s Johnstown facility. Trillium CNG, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, was recently acquired by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

For information on other public-private partnerships, visit PennDOT’s Public-Private Partnership (P3) webpage.