On Friday, March 3, 2023 San Antonio’s public transit operator VIA debuted eight brand new all-electric busses into it’s fleet. These busses will provide a cleaner and greener footprint for San Antonio’s future transit.

As of now, VIA has nearly 500 busses operated by compressed natural gas and operates North America’s largest CNG fueling station. The 40-foot new all-electric Gillig busses that were designed and manufactured in California join the VIA fleet.

VIA constructed a charging area for the new eight units earlier this year in a 12-bay covered area that are capable of charging two busses each.

VIA named the new rides “Arc” after the electrical charge where they get their power from. VIA plans on launching two Arc busses into service as early as the summer of 2023 for testing and data collection. This will help determine if VIA would want to order more to help transition its fleet to a greener source of energy.

“The addition of new all-electric buses keeps VIA moving in the right direction with green technologies that are advancing to a point that makes them practical as well as sustainable,” President/CEO Jeffrey C. Arndt said. “VIA’s CNG fleet conversion delivered up to a 97% reduction of harmful emissions from the vehicles they replaced and put us on the road to a cleaner, greener future.”

Getting to know the new Arc busses.

They are 40-feet in length and can carry 38 passengers
Each bus has onboard full-function telematics that allow for real-time performance monitoring.
Amenities include dimmable LED lighting and USB charging ports at every seat so passengers can recharge their mobile devices on the go.
The busses have regenerative braking, meaning they create power while stopping.
Charging time will be about four hours or less.
Range is expected to be about 150 miles from full charge to empty.
VIA has to test the busses and train employees before putting these new Arc busses into service.