"Not only are Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra hybrid pickups available to customers in Washington State, we have developed a second generation advanced hybrid system, based on this hybrid bus technology, offering fuel economy gains of up to 35 percent on our largest sport utility vehicles."
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| "King County's decision to purchase more than 200 of these buses will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel [costs] and more than 750,000 gallons of fuel each year." (Photo: General Motors of Canada, Joe Polimeni) |
The fact that King County has taken the lead in cutting costs and improving air quality hasn't fallen on deaf ears in the environmental community either. Dennis McLerran, executive director of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency stated, "King County Metro Transit was one of the first partners in our regional Diesel Solutions program, which we launched three years ago." He continued, "They demonstrated their commitment to clean air with their leadership in this voluntary diesel retrofit program, which has become a model for other urban areas around the country. They have retrofitted many of their buses with equipment that traps diesel exhaust and are operating their entire fleet on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, reducing toxics and fine particle emissions by up to 95 percent. They are continuing this commitment to helping us all breathe easier with this new hybrid fleet."