PINELLAS, Fla. — Tampa Bay's public transit is going green. Money from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will see to it that more electric buses are on the road.
The money comes from a settlement in a Volkswagen suit. In 2016,the U.S. government claimed Volkswagen violated the Clean Air Act by selling diesel vehicles that violated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mobile source emission standards.
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority Communications Manager Stephanie Rank says PSTA will benefit greatly.
"We're helping our environment we're helping the future generations and reducing our carbon footprint," said Rank.
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is getting $18 million to buy 60 electric buses. PSTA currently has 6 electric buses and 88 hybrid buses. Rank says each electric bus saves them about $20 grand.
"That $20,000 that we're saving, you know, we can purchase more electric buses. And also we can buy infrastructure with more electric chargers throughout the county, so we can expand our routes that their electric buses go on," she said.
A big chunk of the money saved is because the buses don't run off of diesel fuel.
University of South Florida Professor Feng Hao says switching the buses could be a step towards slowing down climate change.
"The reason behind climate change is CO2 emissions, carbon dioxide emissions led by the consumption of fossil fuels," he said.
Pinellas is just one county getting in on the money from DEP.
University of South Florida Parking and Transportation and Pasco County will each receive $600,000 for two buses.
Pinellas County Schools with receive $5.5 million to purchase 20 electric school buses. Sarasota County will get $2.8 million to go towards 12.
It's a push towards a more environmentally friendly future in Pinellas County.
"Our sustainability goal for PSTA is to achieve an all electric zero emissions fleet by 2050."
