By Rich Piellisch, Fleets & Fuels.

Love’s Trillium CNG revealed a blockbuster win on Thursday: a ten-year, $330 million-plus contract for two public-access fueling stations each able to support 250 compressed natural gas-powered buses for Florida’s Miami-Dade Transit – and the task of procuring those buses for the agency: 300 of New Flyer vehicles to be delivered through this year and next.

The stations are to be open early next year and in summer 2018. They are dispense “a minimum” of 20% RNG/renewable natural gas.

The stations will be the only CNG fueling outlets in the county, which “awarded Trillium the contract under which the company will design, build and maintain the CNG facilities, upgrade maintenance facilities, as well as procure 300 CNG buses for the county’s public transportation system.”

‘Significant Savings in the Long Run’

The agreement also includes CNG-related updates to existing transit infrastructure, as well as new fueling buildings, bus washes, and a ten-year operation and maintenance pact, Love’s says.

“The fiscal impact for the initial ten years in the implementation of the CNG bus program is an estimated $321.6 million,” states a Miami-Dade County release. “This long-term investment can yield significant savings in the long run,” the announcement states, noting an option to renew up to an additional ten years.

‘Innovative Public-Private Collaboration’

“This is easily one of the most innovative public-private collaborations we’ve undertaken with a transit agency,” Trillium CNG director Bill Cashmareck said in his company’s release.

“The combination of providing buses, designing, building and maintaining the CNG systems, upgrading maintenance facilities, and constructing new fuel and wash buildings demonstrates the breadth of our services.