Transit & Delivery Vehicles
Transit and delivery vehicles include public transit buses, school buses, package delivery trucks, small construction or contractor trucks, and similar vehicles.
Public transit buses and school buses already help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by moving many people at once. Buses can be even more efficient if they use engines that run on lower emission fuels like electricity, propane, compressed natural gas or bio or renewable diesel. Lower emission fuels produce less greenhouse emissions than their fossil fuel counterparts.
Delivery vehicles can also benefit from engines that use lower emission fuels. The number of delivery vehicles on our roads has skyrocketed over the last decade, due to the rise of online shopping and delivery apps. If most of those vehicles use engines powered by lower emission fuels, that can help reduce emissions long term.
More efficient engines that run on gasoline or diesel will be important for transit and delivery vehicles, too. It may take a decade to fully transition these vehicles to lower emission fuels, so in the meantime, maximizing efficiency of gas and diesel vehicles will help bridge the gap.
Transit and delivery vehicles have another advantage: they typically “return home” to the same location overnight, like a bus depot or company parking lot. This makes it easier to shift them to electricity because they can recharge overnight when not in use.
Transit and delivery vehicles: emissions reduction vision
By 2035, 90% of urban transit vehicles in Oregon will use engines powered by lower-emission fuels, including electricity.
By 2035, 40% of smaller delivery and commercial vehicles will use lower emission fuels. Nearly all by 2050.
How Oregon is doing
The Oregon Department of Transportation tracks the “health” of the statewide public transit fleet via their State of Good Repair data. Buses have a “useful life” window and should be replaced to ensure they’re safe and cost effective. The goal for public transit agencies is to have less than 40% of their fleet eligible for replacement each year. In 2021, they averaged 37%, the lowest percentage since 2014.
When it’s time to replace a vehicle, transit agencies and delivery companies can reduce emissions by purchasing vehicles powered by lower emission fuels. But buying the vehicles is only one part of a complex and expensive process to transition their entire fleet over several years.
As of 2022, many agencies are in the trial and planning stage. Portland, Eugene, Wilsonville and Grants Pass are running trials of electric buses, and exploring ways to beef up their charging infrastructure. Lane and Josephine Counties have similar programs. Transit agencies in Salem and the Rogue Valley are running buses powered by compressed natural gas.
According to internal ODOT data, in 2020 electric transit service miles in Oregon topped 200,000, a nearly 200% increase over 2019.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is helping on the regulation side, too. The 2021 Advanced Clean Trucks rule required electric transit and delivery vehicles to be sold in the state, and provides opportunities to fund early testing of those vehicles.
How Oregon can improve
In 2022 the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality studied opportunities for transit and delivery vehicle fleets to transition to lower emission fuels. The study identified several barriers to transition: limited access to fueling infrastructure, high vehicle costs, and vehicle range concerns.
Based on the study’s findings, state government can help in several ways:
Act as an education and training resource for transit and delivery agencies that are transitioning their fleets to vehicles powered by lower emission fuels. One example: ODOT and DEQ’s interactive bus tool and guide that helps agencies plan for costs associated with the lower emission fuel transition.
Help transit agencies and fleet owners apply for federal and state diesel emission mitigation grants. Grants can offset the high cost of vehicles that use lower emission fuels, and help increase access to fueling infrastructure.
DEQ has programs to incentivize transit agencies and fleet owners to transition to lower emission fuel vehicles, like the Clean Fuels Program and the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule, and grants offered by some electric utilities.
Delivery companies can also transition their local operations to low or no emission modes, like electric bicycles. E-bikes have the advantage delivering smaller packages in dense urban areas, and cut down on temporary parking and traffic congestion caused by bigger delivery vehicles.