Projo Cars Blog

A recent decision by the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority to revamp Newport's fleet of five tourist trolleys rather than buy new replicas throws light on the limits of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternative fuel.

RIPTA backed down from buying the replicas after the Newport tourism industry claimed the "Gillig Trolley Bus Replica" looked too much like a small bus. There was even a campaign that included "Save the Trolleys" signs.

And as a quick look at photos of the Gillig Corp.'s Trolley Bus Replica reveals, they were quite right.

Sure, the trolleys have some cute trim, especially on the roof, and an attractive paint job, but the curved windshield is just not trolley like.

But as Journal staff writer Bruce Landis reported on Monday, the brouhaha is over because of RIPTA's decision to revamp Newport's trolleys instead, including changing the trolleys' power plants from CNG to diesel.

That caught my eye.

As Landis writes: "Making a decision urgent was the increasing difficulty of fueling (the trolleys). CNG is an expensive and complicated fuel for RIPTA to use, and the failure of some expensive equipment was likely to make it impossible to fuel the trolleys on Aquidneck Island. That would mean driving them to Providence for a fill-up."
That's the basic problem with CNG as an alternative fuel: the almost complete lack of a distribution network.

In Rhode Island, for example, there are precisely seven CNG filling stations, according to the Department of Energy, of which three are open to the public!

The same goes for hydrogen fuel cell technology. How many hydrogen filling stations are there in Rhode Island? Zero - and that goes for most states. Only California has more than 20 stations.

And while we are about it, there are the same number of E85 stations in Rhode Island - zero! So much for those of us who own flex fuel vehicles.

Folks, I know I am dumber than a box of hair but it seems to me preposterous to be pursuing alternative fuels when existing access is so absurdly limited AND when access to such alternative fuels as clean diesel and electricity is already in place.

As I have said before, my money is on a combination of fuel efficient gas engines, clean diesel engines and electric hybrid/plug-in engines.

And apparently RIPTA partly agrees!

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

 Tags  alternative fuels Commentary public transportation

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