Trinity Metro is diversifying its aging fleet — and helping the environment — with the purchase of 15 buses fueled by compressed natural gas.
The transit agency will spend more than $12 million for the buses, which use pressurized natural gas to operate more cleanly and efficiently. Officials will buy the buses from California-based manufacturer Gillig LLC after the Trinity Metro board approved the contract last month.
The contract includes a contingency fee of about $1.2 million for unexpected additional expenses, such as tariffs.
Reed Lanham, chief operating officer, said Trinity Metro is moving “more quickly” to secure the bus purchases, which are compatible with the agency’s maintenance and good service goals.
“One of our goals this year is to implement a state of good repair program,” Lanham said. “This directly ties to that and to the service we are able to offer to our customers.”
Staff keeps up maintenance on Trinity Metro’s buses but time has taken its toll, Lanham said.
“Our maintenance folks, our cleaners, are doing a fantastic job keeping the buses as clean as possible and in good running state,” he said. “Nevertheless, we are getting to the point where we need new buses in the fleet.”
Compressed natural gas buses help reduce pollutants in the air, according to Fastech, a manufacturer of clean energy systems.
Trinity Metro ridership for 2025 exceeded more than 8 million trips — a 2% increase from 2024. That number is slightly less than the agency’s goal of 8.4 million trips.
Some bus routes saw notable increases. The Orange Line, a route launched in September 2024, grew by 22.3%. That line goes from downtown to the Fort Worth Stockyards and other Northside destinations.
Ridership for the agency’s Blue Line, a free downtown route that replaced Molly the Trolley when it started in the summer, grew by 23.5% over the old trolley route’s ridership last year, officials said.
In late September, Trinity Metro replaced some of its Blue Line electric buses with gas-powered standard models after the manufacturer, New Flyer Inc., issued a recall related to concerns about overheating battery cell circuits that can lead to fire risks.
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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