Long Beach Transit (LBT) announced this week that it received a $600,000 grant from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Near Zero Incentive Program. The funds will be used to purchase 40 “near-zero” compressed natural gas (CNG) engines.

“The engines are upgrades to a recent bus procurement as the ‘near zero’ engines were not available when the purchase was authorized in 2016,” stated the release.

The Cummins Westport 8.9-liter engines will be installed in said buses. They are certified by the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to “meet or exceed optional and more stringent near-zero standards,” according to LBT.

LBT has long been an adopter of cleaner technologies to promote better air quality in the area it serves, which includes 13 cities and 100 square miles. When diesel buses were an industry standard, LBT used particulate traps to prevent harmful matter from escaping, in the mid-2000s, LBT stepped away from diesel and purchased gasoline-hybrid buses; in 2012, LBT purchased its first CNG buses and in March it began battery-electric bus service on its Passport route.

Find out more about LBT here.