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# Fueling the fleets with good gas
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/fueling-the-fleets-with-good-gas/
- Published: 2007-03-07T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:12:16.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Fueling the fleets with good gas*

*By IRENE MANAHAN Special to the Daily Press*

CITYWIDE The city of Los Angeles ranked favorably in a recent national study regarding cities and their usage of alternative fuels. Though Santa Monica and cities of a comparable size were not included, it stands to reason the city by the sea would have made a strong showing.

The city of Los Angeles placed eighth, according to SustainLane, the online sus-tainability knowledge base for state and local government, which surveyed the 50 largest U.S. cities and compared the number of fleets operating on alternative fuels.

Close to 25 percent of the city vehicles in Los Angeles run on alternative fuels.

With increasing concerns over the environment, there are more vehicle lines than ever using sustainable power, including biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, liquid natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric and gas-hybrid vehicles, according to SustainLane.

In Santa Monica, the city fleets are often considered a model for clean transportation.

In March 2002, the Big Blue Bus started using LNG, beginning with 37 buses and finally converting more of the fleet, according to Dan Dawson, customer relations manager for Big Blue Bus. He reported that operating one LNG bus is equivalent to eliminating the smog and soot from 20 to 33 passenger cars from the road.

“One hundred percent of our fleet now operates on alternative fuels,” Dawson said. “These fuels include LNG and biodiesel (which is made from plant material instead of petroleum).

Today, 50 percent of the fleet operates on LNG. Dawson said the Big Blue Bus’ goal is to convert all buses to use some sort of alternative fuels.

In the early 90s, the city started to develop its fleet management program, which includes electric and natural gas vehicles.

“In July of ‘96, we started setting the schedule for converting as many vehicles as we could,” said Dean Kubani, environmental programs manager. “Solid waste and recycling trucks use natural gas. We have natural gas and biodiesel beach maintenance and street sweepers.”

Since some city vehicles started running on biodiesel in February 2005, the numbers have continued to increase, according to Rick Sikes, fleet superintendent for Santa Monica.

“Eighty-one percent of the city public work fleet is alternatively fueled,” Sikes said. “We have about 600 vehicles in the fleet that we call the ‘municipal fleet.”

The fleet includes refuse collection trucks, water and street department vehicles, trucks and cars at the pier and airport, basically “everything but the Fire Department, Police Department and Big Blue Bus,” Sikes said.

Approximately 51 percent of the fleet operates on natural gas, 17 percent on biodiesel, 5 percent is electric and 2 percent uses propane. Sixteen vehicles are hybrids, nine run on CNG and gas, and another five run on hydrogen.

City and bus fleet officials are continuing to look for new technologies to improve the trucks and tractors that take the waste to the landfills. Dawson said that carbon dioxide (CO2) from car exhaust in the atmosphere is “the largest contributor” and “the culprit that creates global warming.”

Big Blue Bus is in the process of installing Particulate Matter Traps (P-traps) — filters that will go on the exhausts of vehicles to further reduce CO2 emissions. Dawson said that the process is an expensive and worthy venture, and hopes that eventually the whole fleet will be converted.

“We’ve been a leader in Santa Monica in getting away from fossil fuels,” Dawson said as he recalled the project demonstration that used electric buses. “We’re proud to be part of the overall campaign to get away from fossil fuels.

“Every trip on the bus puts less carbon in the air,” Dawson said. “We encourage every one to get out of their cars and start taking the bus just once a week. Every single car trip we can reduce makes a difference.”

Santa Monica may not need a survey to reinforce its excellent environmental habits, as Kubani is confident that Santa Monica leads the county.

“I’m not exactly sure what other cities are doing, but I would think that with our percentages, we’re definitely one of the leaders, if not the leader,” he said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 7, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)