The familiar Metro buses are doing their part in making Madison's air cleaner and keeping the sky blue.
Starting Tuesday, Madison Metro is choosing a clean fuel alternative by permanently switching to ultra-low sulfur diesel. With help from a $200,000 grant from Madison Gas and Electric, Metro is the first city agency to use U.L.S.D.
New EPA standards will go into effect by the summer of 2006, but Metro is already ahead of schedule. Catherine Debo from Metro says, "By using this clean fuel in advance of the mandate it will be one more means by which we will remain at the forefront of environmentally friendly service in our community."
Annually Madison Metro uses more than one million gallons of diesel fuel, so this will have a large impact on the city and its residents. This fuel alternative is not only environmentally friendly but affordable.
The estimated additional cost for ULSD is about 25 cents per gallon.