battery-operated buses does come with its own set of challenges. “Our buses are not those battery electric buses that can do a full daily route without having to be taken off route and be recharged.” So we have to figure out and properly and smoothly switch our vehicles so that a bus can be brought back to the facility to be charged,” he continues. To help streamline this process, Roadrunner Transit is actively trying to obtain funding for the next step of electrification. “The next step would be to put in inductive charging at our intermodal center here, four pads where the buses pull in and they dwell for around seven minutes when they pull in.” “This way we are going to be able to keep those electric buses out all day without having to switch them out which is going to make them a lot more comparable to how a diesel bus would service us,” he elaborates. Roadrunner Transit is reaching out to the state to help fund the project and will include it in its grant applications for this fiscal year. “We are also working with El Paso Electric to put in microgrids which are battery storage units at the cheapest rates. Then we can use that power to charge up the buses at the inductive charging pads during the day and reduce the cost of operating the buses.” THE ROUTE AHEAD To further modernize its fleet, Roadrunner has adopted new technology to enhance the passenger journey and route planning. “On our fixed routes service and our demand response service, we are implementing user apps. We are using a company called Passio for our fixed route and Via for our demand response service. The software is going to make for a much better experience for our customer.” 9 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 02 ROADRUNNER TRANSIT LAS CRUCES
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