Sustainability
At Foothill Transit, we embrace sustainability because it benefits all aspects of our business, while also helping our communities by protecting the environment through measured and responsible stewardship of resources.
Let's Clear The Air
Foothill Transit has led the charge in sustainable transportation for years. It’s why we were the FIRST IN THE COUNTRY to put fast-charge electric buses on the roads. It’s why we’ve invested in a FLEET OF CLEAN HYDROGEN FUEL CELL ELECTRIC BUSES. It’s why we consistently monitor and measure the environmental impact of everything we do. Because we believe in guilt-free trips. Every ride taken on public transit is one less single-occupancy vehicle on the road, reducing the amount of harmful emissions in the air! With your help, we can make SAVING OUR PLANET and keeping our air clear as simple as going for a ride.
Foothill Transit is committed to operating a 100% zero-emission bus fleet. We’ve had battery-electric buses in our fleet since 2010, and we added two Alexander Dennis battery-electric double deck buses in 2021 – bringing our current battery-electric fleet to 19 buses. We’re even getting 24 more double deck buses in 2027!
And now, we continue to lead the charge in sustainable transportation with America’s largest procurement of Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ hydrogen fuel cell electric buses (FCEB). Foothill Transit is proud to offer clean, quiet, and safe rides on our fleet of 37 FCEBs (with 15 more on the way!).
To date, our battery-electric and FCEB bus fleet has driven over 5.2 million miles and provides zero-emission service to residents in the San Gabriel Valley.
To support our FCEB fleet, hydrogen fuel is stored at the new Pomona Hydrogen Fueling Station in a 25,000-gallon tank. Liquid hydrogen is delivered every other day into the hydrogen tank. The liquid hydrogen is then pumped by two cryogenic pumps into two vaporizer towers where it is warmed and transformed into gaseous state and stored in 10 40kg storage vessels for dispensing into the buses.
Buses can be refueled in 7-10 minutes and can travel up to 300 miles on a single refueling. In addition, the Arcadia Irwindale bus yard has 14 charging stations for our battery-electric bus fleet. Our low and no emission buses have allowed us to remove our diesel storage tanks from our operation facilities and to remove and mitigate any diesel leakage around the tank areas.
Even the mini bus we use for parades is fully electric!
Our low and no emission buses also generate low carbon fuel credits as part of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
Not only are all of our buses low-to-no-emission, almost all of our company vehicles are either hybrid or fully electric. We installed electric vehicle chargers in the parking lot of our administrative offices so that both our company cars and visiting electric vehicles can charge up and help keep air pollutants out of our community.
Our administrative offices are also enhanced with attractive low-water landscaping, or “xeriscaping”.
Inside the building, all of our restroom faucets have low-flow aerators to help us use less water. In addition, both the faucets and our office lighting are controlled by motion sensors, which means they automatically turn off when not in use. Our staff members have kitchenettes on each floor equipped with reusable dishes and silverware, so that we can avoid using disposable dishes when we host events or during our lunch breaks.
Every month, our “Eco Team” works with the staff to help them make sustainable decisions at work — things like printing on both sides of the paper and expertly loading dishwashers so that the dishes don’t have to be rewashed.
Both of our operations and maintenance facilities are equipped with rooftop solar panels. We recently replaced the HVAC (heating and air conditioning) system at our Pomona Operations and Maintenance Facility and our Arcadia Irwindale Operations and Maintenance Facility with a high-efficiency system, including a thermoplastic white roof. This roof reflects away the hot Californian sun so that we need less energy to cool the building. The bus washes that keep our buses shiny and white recycle the water, so there’s less waste. The diesel generators at our facilities have been replaced by CNG generators.
All of the lighting fixtures at our City of Industry Park & Ride are LEDs, which use very little electricity. We recently opened a new transit center in the City of Covina, where we operate a parking structure that is as close to “net zero” energy as possible. In other words, the facility generates as much energy as it uses. The roof has solar panels like our operations and maintenance facilities. The lighting fixtures are all LEDs, and we even capture rainwater to use for irrigating the landscaping.
We built a new layover facility in downtown Los Angeles with LADOT and AVTA. This facility allows our Commuter Express buses to stay downtown after the morning commute instead of returning to the operations and maintenance facility in Pomona — a round trip distance of 68 miles! This significantly reduces the amount of fuel we must use and extends the lifetime of our buses. AVTA buses, which have to travel even farther than ours, have the same benefits.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has recognized Foothill Transit for reaching the Platinum Level, the highest recognition possible, in the APTA Sustainability Commitment Program.
We are the first bus-only public transit system in North America to attain APTA’s Platinum Level for significant sustainability accomplishments. In fact, there are only five public transit systems in North America that have attained this top Platinum Level. Foothill Transit was a founding signatory of the APTA Sustainability Commitment in 2009, and received Gold Level recognition in 2015. Public transit systems and businesses who voluntarily participate in the APTA Sustainability Commitment program pledge to implement processes and actions that create continuous improvements in environmental, social, and economic sustainability.