Greenville again seeks aid to buy electric buses

November 28, 2011

A worker puts the final polishing to the windshield of the new bus. / KEN OSBURN/Staff

Rudolf Bell | The Greenville News

November 28, 2011 - Greenville, SC - Public transit agencies around the country are starting to buy Proterra Inc.’s battery-powered buses.

So far, however, they do not include the transit authority in Greenville, the city Proterra chose for its manufacturing plant and headquarters.

That will change if the Greenville Transit Authority is successful in its third application for federal funding to pay for a rapid-bus service using Proterra’s zero-emission vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to decide on the request in March, said Carl Jackson, GTA’s executive director and transportation director for the city of Greenville.

Meanwhile, Seneca this past week became the first South Carolina city to announce service using Proterra buses.

Seneca officials said they’d use $4.1 million from the Federal Transit Administration and $2 million from the Southern Co., the Atlanta-based power company, to buy five Proterra buses and launch all-electric bus service in the city of 8,300. Mayor Dan Alexander hopes the novel transit system will draw international attention and a stream of visitors.

Proterra had previously announced three-bus deals with transit agencies in California, Texas and Florida. The startup company has also deployed buses using hybrid technology at three sites as part of demonstration projects.

In Greenville, GTA has been twice rejected for federal funding it sought to develop a bus rapid transit (BRT) system using Proterra buses.

BRT lines are designed to provide faster, more efficient service than conventional bus lines without incurring the expense of a rail system.

In 2009, GTA asked unsuccessfully for about $100 million to pay for a regional BRT system stretching from Clemson University to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and from Travelers Rest to Fountain Inn.

In 2010, it sought — again unsuccessfully — $15 million to develop an eight-mile, nine-station BRT line that would link downtown with the International Center for Automotive Research.

In September, the GTA board initially declined to apply for federal funding again, then decided to go ahead within the past month, Jackson said.

In its latest application, GTA seeks $21.7 million to run eight Proterra buses along the previously proposed BRT line and also launch express service to GSP and Mauldin/Simpsonville.

As it did in its 2010 application, GTA envisions “transit villages” — clusters of housing, shops and offices — springing up within a 10-minute walk of each stop on the line.

The BRT line would start at the Kroc Center downtown and end at the St. Francis medical office complex near ICAR.

Along the way, it would stop at the Amtrak and Greenlink stations downtown, near the zoo at the corner of Washington Street and Laurens Road, near the TD Convention Center along Pleasantburg Drive, at Haywood Road, inside the Verdae development and at ICAR.

For 3.4 miles between Pleasantburg Drive and ICAR, the buses would travel by themselves along a dedicated route that is now an unused rail line controlled by Greenville County. The corridor would have room for pedestrians and bicycles and so could be used for recreation like the Swamp Rabbit Trail between downtown and Travelers Rest.

The buses would have onboard WiFi Internet service and multiple flat-panel televisions, according to GTA’s application for the federal money.

Proterra’s buses cost more than their diesel-fueled competitors, but the company says it’s worth it over the long run.

The company’s EcoRide model sells for between $850,000 and more than $1 million, depending on how many are included in the deal, how they’re equipped, the energy storage capacity and the size of the charger, said Marc Gottschalk, Proterra’s chief business development officer and general counsel. That compares to about $400,000 for a conventional diesel bus.

Gottschalk, however, said transit agencies can save $750,000 in fuel costs per bus over 16 years by using Proterra’s vehicles instead of diesel-powered ones.

Greenville Mayor Knox White said he rode a Proterra bus operated by Foothill Transit in Los Angeles County when he was in California about a month ago.

“So if anyone wonders if it’s for real, I’ve been there and seen it and it’s for real,” White said. “I certainly hope that soon we can see them on the streets of Greenville.”

Greenville County Councilman Fred Payne said he thinks the GTA plan would make Greenville more attractive to companies thinking about creating jobs in the area and would also spur development along the bus stops, a potential benefit to his Golden Strip constituents.

“It says something about sort of the level of the community that has a good transit system available,” Payne said.

Greenville businessman Jack Stone has said he’s ready to spend $10 million to launch the first phase of a 22-acre development at the planned bus stop near the intersection of Laurens Road and Pleasantburg Drive if the federal money comes in.

Gottschalk said he hopes GTA is successful in its latest try for federal funding.

“We look forward to having our buses in Greenville some day,” he said.