Two new orange and blue Regional Transit Service buses will be driving through campus beginning in August.
On the Plaza of the Americas on Wednesday, RTS unveiled its new biodiesel hybrid buses that will start running Aug. 19.
The new buses will run on route 46, which goes from UF to downtown, said RTS Marketing and Communications Supervisor Chip Skinner.
The electric and biodiesel combination increases fuel efficiency by 20 to 30 percent.
The buses start on the electric battery and the diesel fuel kicks in at certain speeds.
Skinner didn’t know the exact speeds, but he said the system works like a hybrid car.
The buses cost $600,000 each, Skinner said.
Curtis Reynolds, UF’s vice president for business affairs, said the Campus Development Agreement, which facilitates coordination between UF, Alachua County and Gainesville, funded the buses.
During the unveiling, Reynolds said these buses strengthen the university’s partnership with RTS.
RTS will be the second agency to use biodiesel hybrid buses. The first is the Palm Tran in Palm Beach County, Skinner said.
“It’s been a number of years in the works,” Skinner said.
Three more hybrid buses will be coming in spring.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
Mayor Craig Lowe speaks at the unveiling of two new biodiesel hybrid Regional Transit System buses Wednesday morning on the Plaza of the Americas. The new buses will run on route 46.
