Mountain Line Reaches Fleet Electrification Milestone

OLGA KREIMER
Communications Specialist
Mountain Line
Missoula, MT

More than half of Mountain Line’s bus fleet is now electric.

Since 2017, the Missoula Urban Transportation District (MUTD/Mountain Line) has been working to replace its diesel buses with electric vehicles, which offer quieter rides, produce no tailpipe emissions, and cost less per mile to operate than diesel buses. In 2020, the MUTD Board of Directors committed to a zero-tailpipe-emissions fleet by 2035—and just four years later, the fixed-route fleet is more than halfway there.

“I’m so happy to see how quickly Mountain Line has been able to convert its fleet of diesel buses to clean, electric buses,” says Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis, who served on the Mountain Line board for 12 years. “This means that more Missoulians can get to their appointments, school, or work on a quieter bus, and that every Missoulian enjoys cleaner air.”

Mountain Line’s first electric buses entered service in 2019. This month, the agency will reach one million miles driven by its electric fleet—and each new electric bus purchase has featured improvements in range and efficiency as the industry has evolved.

“These buses will be able to make it through all but two of our longest shifts, even on a negative-10-degree day,” says Operations Director Jen Sweten.

“The technological improvements over the last several years are impressive, but I’m most proud of the way our staff has met the challenge of a brand-new technology and become experts in keeping both electric and diesel buses running smoothly,” says Sweten. “Buses may seem like a fundamentally simple endeavor, but it takes a high level of skill behind the scenes to take safe and reliable service for granted and to support this kind of progress.”

Federal infrastructure funding is also critical to ensuring Missoulians continue to have access to economic opportunities through public transit, says Jordan Hess, Mountain Line CEO and general manager. “We have buses on the road now that are past their expected lifespan, and while that’s a testament to staff skill and commitment, it’s not a sustainable long-term plan. Transit changes lives—Mountain Line connects people to work, to the city, and to each other. We can’t do that effectively without good equipment.”

Ten additional buses of the same model, funded by a 2022 competitive grant award, are on order from GILLIG and slated to enter service in mid-2025. Mountain Line delivers more than 1.2 million bus rides each year, with more than a third of those being to or from work, according to a 2023 rider survey.

The agency’s electrification efforts contribute to cleaner air in the Missoula valley, where inversions can trap pollution and amplify the effect of tailpipe emissions. Electric bus service, at about 50 cents per mile, is also cheaper to run and has an overall lower carbon footprint than diesel service, reducing CO₂ emissions by about 60 tons per month.

In 2023, Mountain Line was among the leading agencies in electrification progress, funded by multiple competitive grants from the Federal Transit Administration since 2018. The FTA most recently awarded Mountain Line $39.1 million to build a new fully electric facility. The agency has long been at capacity in its current base on the Westside, where space constraints make it impossible to add additional buses for expanded service.