Driven to succeed

As the nation’s leading producer and consumer of propane, the state of Texas has always been at the forefront of incorporating fuel use into the daily routine.

Fifty years ago, San Antonio was one of three major U.S. cities that turned to the clean-burning fuel to power its vehicle fleet. Chicago and New Orleans have long since returned to gasoline and diesel engines, but the popularity of propane in this fast-growing community remains steadfast.

A new, 30,000-gallon propane storage tank was part of the $3 million investment made by VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority in San Antonio.

The community has been luring people to its streets for over 300 years now. From its roots as a religious settlement through its development as a leading livestock center, produce exchange market and military center, the diverse city has become the nation’s eighth largest city with more than 1.2 million residents.

The home of the Alamo has found its niche as a tourist attraction. The tree-lined river meandering through the downtown, the huge Mexican quarter, the Franciscan missions and the warm climate attract thousands of tourists annually.

The city of San Antonio recently spent $7 million to upgrade its Northeast Service Center, where hundreds of propane vehicles are refueled and serviced.

But observant visitors also may notice the colorful propane logos affixed to hundreds of buses and city service vehicles that criss-cross city streets each day. The VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority services Greater San Antonio has a fleet of 428 buses and streetcars, more than half of which run on propane. The city of San Antonio has 369 propane-powered light-and medium-duty trucks in its fleet of 3,000 on-road vehicles.

Last spring, the Propane Education & Research Council recognized the two public entities for their continued commitment to propane-powered vehicles.

The state-of-the-art refueling facilities at the city’s Northeast Service Center includes a new 30,000-gallon propane storage tank, fuel dispensing equipment and automated fuel management system.

Investing in propane

The city operates four propane-refueling stations throughout the city to keep its vehicles running. In May 2003 it completed a $7 million upgrade to its Northeast Service Center, which houses 300 city service vehicles with refueling station for gasoline, diesel and propane.

“Propane is our bread and butter as far as alternative fuel for our fleet,” observes Ralph Thompson, assistant fleet operations manager.

Each 30-foot, Champion bus comes equipped with three separate fuel tanks for all-day operation.

That’s critical in a city that is borderline attainment in terms of meeting stringent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality mandates. On days when air pollution pushes the air-quality index beyond acceptable levels, city services across the community’s 408 square miles are curtailed as diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles must be shut down.

“On days where there is an air pollution alert, we can only run designated vehicles. If we can run them on LPG it helps, because propane vehicles are clean burning. We can go about our business without sacrifice. Its business as usual,” Thompson says.

Five of the 10 bays at the VIA service facilitiy pump propane for bus refueling.

The state’s third-largest city spends $6.5 million per year for gasoline, diesel and propane for its fleet. Propane marketers bid to supply the 600,000 to 700,000 gallons used by the vehicles each year. Longhorn Propane in Canyon Lake, Texas, is the current provider with a two-year contract that city officials estimate is saving about 50 cents per gallon over the price of gasoline.

At its shiny, new Northeast Service Center, Javier Travis shows off the state-of-the-art dispensing equipment installed by his company, Propane Specialty Services of Banquete, Texas. PSS distributes equipment made by Clean Fuels Technologies.

The new system uses Clean Fuels Technology dispensing equipment and a fuel management program by eFueling Technologies.

The two propane dispensers are tied in to a central fuel management system that tracks fuel expenses to preauthorized users. The system generates reports showing usage in miles per gallon, frequency, location, day, date and time for each driver by vehicle.

Inside the facility’s 26,000-square-foot vehicle maintenance area mechanics work at six work bays. With assistance from the Texas Railroad Commission, which provides free training, each city mechanic is trained to service engines using all fuels.

Thompson says the city likes to get 84,000 miles or 10 years of service out of its vehicles, noting that most include long hours of idling.

“The propane vehicles usually make it,” he says matter-of-factly.

Betting on Buses

VIA Metropolitan Transit has been using propane since 1954. Today, VIA runs from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m., seven days a week, servicing 81 bus lines over 1,231 square miles throughout Bexar County. More than 37 million passengers ride the system annually.

The 272 propane vehicles in its fleet include 67 Champion 30-foot buses, 104 Champion transit buses and nine trolley streetcars. The streetcars carry more than 2 million riders annually on four downtown loop routes to the most popular area tourist attractions. Additionally, the fleet has 94 support vehicles.

“We fully back the propane industry’s efforts to promote the use of alternative fuels to advance the economic, environmental and energy security of the nation,” VIA President John Milam said in a statement.

“We chose this fuel to help reduce our fleet emissions and to demonstrate that propane could be a viable alternative fuel for transit systems.”

Douglas Peck, vice president of maintenance, is proud to show off the recently completed, $3 million renovation to the VIA maintenance facility near downtown San Antonio. Among its improvements: a new 30,000-gallon propane tank and five refueling dispensers controlled by a fuel management system. A scanner uses ICU bar codes to automatically identify the bus and enable the system.

Peck, a 23-year company veteran, says the new equipment eases the high-volume crunch when the vehicles all return for refueling between 4:30 p.m. and midnight.

He also is energized about the performance of his low-floor, Champion buses. Equipped with a Cummins 5.9-liter engine, the buses deliver 52,000 miles per year almost 3.5 million miles total and burn more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel.

He also is quick to quote the miles per gallon, cost per gallon and related maintenance performance numbers that drive the final competitive decisions to choose propane.

“We will go with propane as our alt fuel as long as it stays within 10 percent of the cost of diesel. You have to factor in the full life cycle on vehicles, cost of infrastructure, BTU, and fuel cost. Right now, propane is about 8 percent above diesel overall, which is OK.”

As with the city, the VIA service crew is trained to service vehicles running on all fuels.

Because it uses nearly 2.5 million gallons of propane annually, VIA swings a big stick when it comes time to bid its fuel contract. Peck says it has learned that the best way to guard against fuel quality problems that sometimes plague motor fuel applications is to guarantee the grade and source of the fuel it purchases.

The VIA supply contract requires the supplier to provide HD-5 quality propane produced from specific gas processing plants, shipped from specific terminals, using only propane-dedicated transports. It also requires that fuel samples from the vehicles and plant be periodically tested for compliance.

“It eliminates bad experiences,” Peck explains. “We have had no major incidents with fuel quality the last seven years.”

Ferrellgas has the current VIA contract, making tanker deliveries four times each week. VIA estimates its propane contract is saving more than $1 million a year over the cost of gasoline.

Beyond the fuel cost savings, the use of propane has contributed to the transit authority’s commitment to help address the community’s air pollution concerns.

“VIA wanted to help clean up the city, so we looked at LNG, CNG and LPG as alternative fuels for our fleet. We already had the infrastructure here from the city and local school fleet use, so propane made sense,” Peck says.

“It has been a very positive experience for us, knowing that we are contributing to the environmental issues. And our riders tell us they appreciate it as well. We are doing our part to clean up the air, but you have to put the effort in and stick to it.”