Prince George’s County, in suburban Washington, DC, is charting a path toward a cleaner, more sustainable bus fleet. The County needed help transitioning its suburban fixed-route service, which operated 65 buses on many long routes, to zero-emission buses (ZEBs). This project evaluated the feasibility of the transition and produced a transition plan for the County’s transit system, TheBus.
The plan includes facility design, fleet planning, transition analysis, and public and stakeholder engagement. Foursquare ITP led the existing conditions task, organizing schedule and fleet data to establish a baseline of operations for projecting the impacts of the ZEB transition. This included mapping, schedule and data analysis, a summary of existing technology, and an analysis of emission impacts from current operations. Foursquare ITP also led the County in developing and executing a comprehensive public and stakeholder engagement plan, including a speaking tour to various councils, neighborhoods, stakeholder committees, operator in-reach, and a marketing effort to build public awareness of the project.
Foursquare ITP completed route and block modeling to estimate fixed-route and paratransit battery-electric bus fleet needs and advised on workforce development and risk mitigation components of the ZEB plan. We developed a practical transition plan with multiple scenarios that the County can use to advance its transition to zero-emission vehicles.
Solutions and Outcomes
- Established a baseline of existing operations and emissions.
- Led public and stakeholder engagement.
- Modeled fixed-route and paratransit fleet needs.