Tulsa Transit has two big projects to plan and complete in order to accommodate its transition to a fleet fully powered by compressed natural gas and its introduction of bus rapid transit service.
The current fueling system has two compressors to supply individual stations, but only one can run on the incoming gas line.
"The more vehicles you put onto that, the slower that goes," said Interim General Manager Debbie Ruggles. "The danger, then, becomes when you're ready to run those buses in the morning, they're not full. And so, you've got to be able to get that pressure up so you can make your pullout in the morning with full buses."
The way to get more pressure in the fueling system is Tulsa Transit's first big project to tackle.
"What that's going to involve is creating a larger gas line up from 11th Street down to our facility here at Fifth and Rockford," Ruggles said.
After the gas line is addressed, there will be up to 19 new buses for rapid transit in the coming years and nowhere to park them. Ruggles said they’d like to keep workers prepping buses each day within a mile of Tulsa Transit headquarters.
"The extent to which you have to have them go farther and farther to park buses at a different location just increases the daily cost of getting your fleet ready to go, so the closer we can get to this facility, the better," Ruggles said.
Tulsa Transit has no estimate or timetable for either project now.
