SunLine Transit Agency
SunLine Transit Agency provides public transit and community services to California's Coachella Valley. The service area is more than 1,100 square miles and includes nine member cities, as well as Riverside County. Over the years, SunLine has pursued an aggressive strategy for implementing clean technologies into its fleet. SunLine began by switching its fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG), then moved toward more advanced technologies, such as hydrogen/compressed natural gas (HCNG) blended fuels and fuel cells. The agency has established itself as a test bed for multiple vehicle and hydrogen production technologies. In partnership with AC Transit, SunLine purchased one fuel cell bus for the demonstration. SunLine's fuel cell bus was identical to those at AC Transit. The hot, dry desert climate in SunLine's service area helped to further test the performance of the bus under multiple climates.
SunLine has been using compressed hydrogen fuel for several years. In April 2000, SunLine opened a hydrogen generation, storage, fueling, and education facility to demonstrate various approaches to hydrogen production. The fuel cell bus was put into service in December 2005.
NREL also evaluated a hybrid hydrogen internal combustion engine bus in operation at SunLine.
Contact Leslie Eudy at (303) 275-4412 for more information about DOE's evaluation project with SunLine.
Related Publications
- SunLine Transit Agency Fuel Cell Transit Bus: Fifth Evaluation Report L. Eudy and K. Chandler, August 2009
- SunLine Transit Agency Fuel Cell Transit Bus: Fifth Evaluation Report—Appendices L. Eudy and K. Chandler, August 2009
- SunLine Transit Agency Fuel Cell Transit Bus: Fourth Evaluation Report K. Chandler and L. Eudy, January 2009
- SunLine Transit Agency Fuel Cell Transit Bus: Fourth Evaluation Report—Appendices K. Chandler and L. Eudy, January 2009
- SunLine Transit Agency Hydrogen-Powered Transit Buses: Third Evaluation Report, June 2008
- SunLine Transit Agency Hydrogen-Powered Transit Buses: Third Evaluation Report—Appendices, June 2008
- SunLine Begins Extended Testing of Hybrid Fuel Cell Bus. DOE Hydrogen Program (Fact Sheet)
- SunLine Transit Agency, Hydrogen-Powered Transit Buses: Evaluation Results Update, September 2007
- SunLine Transit Agency, Hydrogen-Powered Transit Buses: Preliminary Evaluation Results, February 2007
- SunLine Tests HHICE Bus in Desert Climate, October 2006
- SunLine Expands Horizons with Fuel Cell Bus Demo, May 2006
- ThunderPower Bus Evaluation at SunLine Transit Agency, November 2003
- SunLine Test Drives Hydrogen Bus, August 2003
- Final Report on the Federal Transit Administration, SunLine Transit Agency Cooperative Agreement (Ballard P4 Fuel Cell Bus)