Medicine Hat Steers its Fleet Towards Natural Gas

The City of Medicine Hat likes to plan ahead.

When the Alberta municipality chose to steer its fleet towards natural gas a few years ago, the main reasons were more predictable municipal budgets, in addition to environmental benefits for a more sustainable community.

The city has ordered a fleet of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to be delivered over the next several years, in addition to natural gas-powered garbage trucks and a few light duty trucks.

John Komanchuk, the City of Medicine Hat’s CNG Project Manager, says tumultuous diesel prices have made municipal budget planning – a process which is done three years in advance – increasingly challenging.

“The way the price of diesel has swung over the last several years has made budgets difficult,” John says. “We anticipate more stability with CNG.”

Natural Gas - A Remarkable Transportation Renaissance

This is the third installment in our guest blog series: A Wider Lens.

This series features first-hand accounts from people driving natural gas vehicles, industry leaders and decision-makers in the natural gas transportation industry.

By Guest Contributor, Alicia Milner 

President of the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance (CNGVA)

Alicia Milner, President of the CNGVA

A remarkable renaissance is taking place when it comes to the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel in Canada. Long recognized as a cleaner-burning alternative, natural gas vehicles had some inherent technology challenges when they first made their debut in Canada back in the 1980’s. Heavy steel fuel cylinders, inefficient engines, and power loss issues all contributed to operational and economic challenges for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle users.

Fast forward to 2013 and natural gas vehicles are now poised to move into the mainstream in both Canada and the United States. Heavy truck and bus fleets are choosing natural gas because of the fuel cost savings, lower emissions, quieter operation, availability of factory-built vehicles, renewable natural gas-capability, and diesel-like performance. And while many reasons can be cited for why a fleet might consider switching to natural gas, nothing is more powerful than seeing some of Canada’s early adopters returning to natural gas vehicle use.

Transit bus operator Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) is an excellent example. HSR participated directly in the development of the world’s first natural gas transit bus in the mid-1980s and went on to acquire two more generations of natural gas engines in their transit bus fleet. At the peak, HSR operated Canada’s largest fleet of natural gas buses with more than 100 CNG buses, but challenges with maintenance costs, vehicle reliability, and refueling station maintenance led HSR to move away from CNG.