NYC Airports Will Get An Electric Bus Fleet In 2019

QUEENS, NEW YORK -- John F. Kennedy got a new fleet of electric buses as part of a new Port Authority program to keep things eco-friendly at the airport, officials announced.

La Guardia, JFK and Newark Liberty will get 18 new buses within the next six months and, within two or three years, all 36 diesel shuttles buses will be replaced with clean-energy vehicles, Port Authority officials said.

Six buses will appear at LaGuardia next summer and six buses, which have already been delivered to New Jersey, will go into operation early in 2019, according to a press release.

The Proterra buses will shuttle passengers to areas not served by AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark and the LaGuardia buses will carry passengers to all terminals and parking lots, officials said.

The battery-operated buses also come with charging stations, which are currently being installed at the airports, and are expected to save about 269 tons of greenhouse gas emission and 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year, projections show.

Port Authority officials estimate the zero emissions buses will eliminate 2,000 pounds of nitrous oxide and 150 pounds of particulate matter in the air surrounding the airports each year.

Photo of a Proterra Clean-Energy bus courtesy of the MTA/Flickr