Metro Commemorates Earth Day By Reaffirming Commitment To Renewable Fuels, Greenifying Fleet

Metro (Cincinnati, OH) is inviting Hamilton County, OH, communities to “go green” this Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, by choosing public transportation, which has never been a more convenient and reliable option for reducing one’s energy use and carbon footprint, thanks to recent service improvements through the Reinventing Metro plan.

“Study after study tells us how positive an impact choosing public transportation can have, not just on your wallets but also, just as critically, on our environment,” Metro Sr. Vice President of External Affairs Brandy Jones said. “As a transit system that moves more than 40,000 people each day, we continually pursue new innovations and technologies to stay on the cutting edge in the most sustainable way possible.”

Most recently, Metro was the proud recipient in January of nearly $2 million in Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) funding toward the purchase of new, clean-diesel buses. Additionally, Metro’s paratransit provider, Access, is in the process of procuring the agency’s first three all-electric vehicles. Other environmental impact initiatives include:

• Twenty-seven hybrid diesel-electric buses in Metro’s fixed-route fleet, each of which produces 90% fewer emissions than standard diesel buses;
• Using rainwater to wash buses, burning waste oil to heat garages and recycling engine fluids such as refrigerant, coolant and transmission fluids;
• Installing LED lights at Metro’s transit centers and operating facilities;
• Recycling more than 45 tons of scrap metal each year; and,
• Using a cardboard baler, also purchased with the help of an OEPA grant, to reduce waste and generate annual revenue from recycling.

Learn more about Metro’s green initiatives at www.go-metro.com/going-green.