Santa Barbara County Association of Governments unveilled its first-ever electric commuter bus on January 28, at the Avenue of the Flags in Buellton. The 100% solar-charged bus will serve 7,000 passengers a month between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara with stops in between. It is only the third U.S transit agency to put a long-distance, zero-emission commuter bus into operation.
Supervisor Das Williams, chair of the inter-county agency that runs the fleet of "Clean Air Express" natural gas buses, called it the “45-foot beauty."
The 54,000-pound behemoth came with a price tag of $850,000 — with Caltrans providing $500,000 of that chunk SB1, AKA the “gas tax” vote of 2017.
Electric commuter coaches are $150,000 to $200,000 more expensive than their diesel counterparts, but less expensive to operate, according to the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG).’s public information manager, in an email. She estimates that the cost of diesel fuel for “an average CAE round trip is about $112, depending on fuel prices. The anticipated cost of electricity to operate an average CAE round trip is $34, or about 70 percent less expensive.”
According to SBCAG, replacing one diesel commuter coach with the zero-emission transporter will eliminate more than 50 tons of CO2 per year.