WMATA is a laggard on electrifying buses

Earlier this year, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority managers told the agency’s board of directors* that WMATA is a national leader when it comes to transitioning its fossil fuel buses to a zero-emission fleet.

In fact, WMATA is lagging behind other major transit agencies across the country.

While WMATA’s Metrobus Fleet Plan, which the board approved in 2021, will not replace all of its fossil fuel buses until 2045, fleets in Los Angeles and Houston are scheduled to be all-electric by 2030. King County, Washington—which includes Seattle—plans to electrify its bus fleet by 2035, and buses in Chicago and New York City are slated to be electrified by 2040.

Smaller fleets in our region also are outpacing WMATA. The DC Circulator bus fleet will be all-electric by 2029, while Montgomery County’s RideOn buses, Alexandria’s DASH buses, and Fairfax County’s Connector buses will be fully electric by 2035.

It was not the first time WMATA managers have misinformed the board. Indeed, the fleet plan they presented to the board in June 2021 was riddled with inaccurate and outdated information. If WMATA sticks to this ill-conceived plan that an ill-informed board authorized, it will continue to purchase fossil fuel buses for the rest of this decade.

WMATA’s fleet is currently made up of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, which essentially run on methane, a potent global warming gas. Diesel tailpipe emissions have been linked to cancer and heart disease, as well as premature death. CNG bus emissions have been linked to cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Emissions from both fuels cause smog, which exacerbates allergies and such lung conditions as emphysema, bronchitis and asthma, a major problem in the District. Both types of fuel also pose a threat to the climate. In the greater Washington region, cars, trucks, buses, and other mobile sources account for a whopping 40% of annual global warming pollution.

Regardless, WMATA is planning to spend more than $5 million on a new CNG fueling facility at its Shepherd Parkway Bus Garage in Ward 8 and continue to buy CNG buses until 2030, despite the fact that CNG buses are at most marginally better than diesel buses. Like diesel buses, they spew toxic pollution. Their lifecycle global warming emissions, meanwhile, are on average only 6.4 percent lower than that of a diesel bus and, in many circumstances, are nearly the same due to widespread methane leaks and relatively poor fuel economy. While the United States and more than 100 other countries have pledged to cut methane emissions by 30 percent this decade, WMATA is heading in the opposite direction.

The DC Council and four dozen other elected officials in the region have called on WMATA to replace half its fleet with electric buses by the end of the decade, but only the WMATA board has the authority to direct the transit agency to change course, and historically it has rubberstamped WMATA managers’ recommendations no matter how shortsighted they may be.

If WMATA hews to its current plan, less than 20% of its fleet will be electric by 2030, but it could come close to 50% by only purchasing electric buses during its next five-year procurement window, which begins in fiscal year 2024. Based on the agency’s schedule of buying 100 buses a year, 45% would be electric by 2030. According to a Sierra Club analysis, electrifying half of WMATA’s fleet by 2030 would save $350 million in lifetime bus operation and maintenance costs, dramatically reduce toxic air pollution, and slash the fleet’s annual global warming pollution by more than 58,000 tons.

WMATA’s new general manager, Randy Clarke, gets it. When he was the CEO of CapMetro in Austin, Texas, the transit agency’s board of directors approved a five-year contract for nearly 200 electric buses, one of the largest single electric bus contracts in the country. Clarke called the purchase “a major milestone for CapMetro as we strive to provide safe, clean, and equitable transportation for our community for generations to come. …With this electric bus procurement,” he added, “we are showing our dedication to a cleaner tomorrow.”

There is no reason why WMATA can’t show that same kind of dedication. Is Mr. Clarke up to the task of instilling it?

*Disclosure: GGWash’s board chair, Tracy Hadden Loh, is also a member of Metro’s board. Per our editorial policy, she has no editorial input.