Veolia Transportation converting 300 of its US taxis to propane autogas; launching Baltimore’s first propane autogas taxi fleet
11 May 2012
Veolia Transportation is launching Baltimore’s first propane autogas taxi fleet. The company—the largest private provider of multiple modes of transportation in North America—is converting 300 of its taxis nationwide from gasoline to propane autogas. The company has also installed an autogas fueling station in Baltimore to serve 50 Checker and Yellow taxis.
Veolia Transportation is Baltimore City’s largest operator of taxicab services. Operating under the names Yellow, Checker, and Sun Cabs in Baltimore City, and Jimmy’s Cab in Baltimore County, the company currently serves approximately 5 million people annually with a fleet of nearly 700 vehicles.
Propane autogas is the most widely used alternative fuel in the world. With the price of propane autogas averaging $1 per gallon less than gasoline, vehicle conversions and fueling infrastructure are particularly cost-effective for fleets such as ours at Veolia.
—Mark Joseph, CEO and Vice Chairman of Veolia Transportation
Veolia Transportation’s propane autogas vehicle conversions are being completed under the Southeast Propane Autogas Development Program (SPADP). Under the public-private partnership, Program fleets are converting more than 1,200 autogas vehicles and implementing more than 30 autogas fueling stations throughout the southeastern US, Pittsburgh and Denver.
In addition to the 50 Checker Yellow taxis in Baltimore by the end of 2012, Veolia Transportation will convert more than 250 of the taxis it operates in Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Denver to run on propane autogas.
Veolia Transdev currently operates in 28 countries and provides 2.63 billion passenger trips per year. In the US and Canada alone, Veolia Transportation operates service in 200 contracts with 18,000 employees. The company manages multiple modes of public transportation, including bus, rail, paratransit, taxi and shuttle services, in both urban and regional areas.
Veolia Transportation is the North American business unit of Veolia Transdev.
A good (mini) start to reduce imported gasoline/diesel use.
Posted by: HarveyD | 11 May 2012 at 10:35 AM
Propane is perhaps the best automotive fuel, but autogas propane is usually a mix of propane and butane which is quite good too, but butane remains mostly liquid at temperatures a degree or so below the freezing point of water, zero degrees centigrade. This is not a problem if liquid fuel injection is used for the engine. Propane or butane or both together are not found as a large percentage of crude oil deposits or in natural gas, and liquid fuels without pressure tanks are easier to manage, so crude oil is refined into diesel and petrol for automobiles. The big engines in modern container ships can burn fuels that otherwise might be used to make Tarmac for roads but burn it at the highest efficiency.
An organism that made propane by digesting sugar would be most welcome. N-butanol is not as good a fuel but is made by organisms.
A process that made propane and hydrogen from methane would be most welcome. Some have promised processes that produce methanol directly from methane but this has not been economical enough.
Rail vehicles that save almost half the energy with hydraulic hybrid technology are in the latest news and retrofitting many vehicles with Artemis hybrid technology would alone eliminate the need for biofuels for automobiles. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 11 May 2012 at 11:46 PM