The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast
Episode 37: It's Electric!


Kimberly Williams: From, you know, our local bus routes system to our very popular Park and Ride system. We have Vanpool, and even if you’re carpooling on our HOV/HOT Lanes, every single one of those steps individually, collectively, helps reduce environmental impact to the region, and so, we always promote and encourage people, if you are looking for a green solution, a green travel option, you know, ride METRO.   

Laura Whitley: And now another green travel option is coming! I’m Laura Whitley. In this edition of the Next Stop, METRO’s plans to add electric buses to the fleet and how this is just the start of sustainable innovations for the agency.  

[Introduction music plays] 

Laura Whitley: I’m pleased to welcome our METRO’s Chief Innovation Officer, Kimberly Williams, to the Next Stop. Kim, thanks for joining us this morning.  

Kimberly Williams: Thank you so much for having me.  

Laura Whitley: So, let’s talk a little bit about this Sustainability Action Plan and really what was the sort of nexus for all of this.  How did this get started?  

Kimberly Williams: Well, that’s a great question. So, you know, as an agency, you know, over the last year and a half of the pandemic, we have been looking at ways to be a sustainable agency, and there’s been a lot of conversation in the public transit community about, you know, zero emissions, carbon reduction, and as part of our role as the Office of Innovation, we track trends and best practices. And we recognized that this was an area that we had been doing some work in but that we needed to advance and become in alignment with our peers and where the industry was going. So, you’ve heard a lot about agencies going to zero-emissions fleets and some states that have included that project as part of their approach going forward. So, it was time, and we’re looking forward to implementing this plan.  

Laura Whitley: Now, you mentioned zero-emissions fleets, and that is one of the components of a larger initiative that you’re working on, and certainly something that’s grabbing attention and headlines. Can you tell me a little bit about, you know, what will be METRO’s first foray into the zero-emission fleet program?  

Kimberly Williams: Yes, absolutely!  So, we’ll be starting with the purchase of 20 battery-electric buses and also 10 cutaway vehicles. And when we say cutaway vehicles, we mean the shuttles that you see that deliver the Paratransit service and the Community Connector service.  So, that’s the first prong of our plan.  

Laura Whitley: Those vehicles, particularly the buses, I know you had mentioned that the vans would operate more for Paratransit and Community Connector-type services.  Where will the buses operate, and why were those routes selected?  

Kimberly Williams: So, we are looking at two initial routes for the electric bus service.  One is the 402 Bellaire Quickline. It’s one of our signature bus routes. It’s a pretty robust route in terms of the length and the ridership, but it also touches a number of what we call “Complete Communities,” which are identified by the City of Houston as communities that may have not received all the resources as other areas and need additional support. The second route we’re looking at is 28 OST – Wayside, and so that also serves some of the Complete Community areas, such as Third Ward, Manchester, and then also on the 402 Quickline, looking at Gulfton and, you know, continuing to serve that area. And those particular Complete Communities are also unique because, based on the City of Houston’s Climate Action Plan, those communities experience more carbon emissions than other areas.  

Laura Whitley: Understood. And as you’re looking at implementing this technology into service, what are some of the technical considerations that you all are looking at as you prepare to go out for procurement?  

Kimberly Williams: I think the biggest technical issue we’ll be looking at is the charging infrastructure. We do not currently have electric buses in our fleet. So, therefore, we don’t have a way to “fuel them,” as you know, people think of in terms of buses. So, we need to have the capability to charge these buses, and we don’t have that infrastructure at the moment. So, that will be one of the big items that we will need to look at as we bring these buses onboard. The charging apparatus that is needed where that charging is located. The other piece that we’ll be paying close attention to is the range. Most people are very familiar with how many miles per gallon you get with a traditional fuel-type vehicle, so this is very different. When you’re talking about an electric vehicle, how many miles per charge will we be able to achieve? And right now, where the industry is, is those vehicles don’t have the same range as a traditional fuel-type vehicle. So, we’ll have to make sure we plan carefully where they’ll be charged, so we can make sure we can still deliver the range of service that we provide today.  

Laura Whitley: Understood. And so, it sounds like this initial vehicle purchase and then putting this into service will really be a multi-year learning process.  

Kimberly Williams: It will. We’ll be looking to move very quickly, though. We got approval from the Board of Directors in July to approve the purchase. We will be issuing that solicitation within the next 30 days for the purchase of those vehicles. It does take some time for those vehicles to be built and tested, and sent to us. So, during that timeframe, we will be using that time to get the infrastructure in place. So, we’re looking at weeks and months, and hopefully not years—that you will see these buses within the year.  

Laura Whitley: Well, that’s exciting. In terms of the rider experience on this type of vehicle, are there any other differences that riders might notice?  

Kimberly Williams: You know, we did an electric bus pilot in 2015, and I think we got good feedback from the riders at that time. They felt it was a quiet, smooth ride.  Probably the question that came up was on the air conditioning system, which is always a challenge in a climate like Houston’s. But what we’ve noticed flashing forward now, you know, five and six years later, is that the electric bus industry has made a lot of improvements in all aspects of the bus. So, for the typical rider, I don’t think they’ll see much of a difference. They may see a quieter vehicle because you don’t have an engine or a motor that’s running. I think you’ll see and experience a cool climate like you would with a traditional fuel bus. But honestly, those are the types of things that we’ll be looking at and collecting information and data on with these first two routes, so we can continue to make improvements as we bring more of these vehicles into our fleet. And the electric bus industry is also constantly innovating, and so I think every generation of this bus gets better and better.  

Laura Whitley: Absolutely!  And speaking of innovation, this is just, as I mentioned, just one component of a larger plan that you and many other talented folks at METRO are working on. Could you tell me about that and what the goal of this plan is?  

Kimberly Williams: Sure. So, with the Sustainability Vision Statement that the Board of Directors reviewed last month—or this month, I should say, in July. They’re looking at a holistic approach. So, the first goal is to bring the electric buses into our fleet so we can have that diversity appeal-types.  But the other aspects we’ll be looking at—how we reduce our carbon footprint throughout the agency? We’ll be looking at how we handle fluids and materials in our daily work with delivering service. We’ll be looking at how our facilities are designed and built, looking at energy efficiency with the lighting, through landscaping, those type of amenities as well.  

We’ll also be looking to partner with organizations who have more knowledge and expertise in this space. We’re a public transit agency. We run service.  But as far as the experts on climate change and carbon footprint reduction, we’ll be looking to learn more from partners within the region. We’ve already been in conversations with the Environmental Defense Fund, which is a nonprofit based in Austin and New York, and we’ve been working with them for the last couple of years.  

We’re also working with a local Houston region nonprofit called EVolve. And EVolve is also a nonprofit that works to help understand carbon emission opportunities, emerging technology and provides information and resources, and so we’ll be working very closely with them. And one thing that people don’t know is that METRO also works very closely with the educational institutions in our region, and so one of those institutions is the University of Houston, and so, we have what we call a “Research Agreement” with them.  They have an Energy Research Institute. So, we’ll be looking to work with our local nonprofits, our educational institutions to glean as much knowledge, data collection as we can so we can make this service one of the best electric bus services in town.  

Finally, I’ll add that we are also not limiting ourselves to the battery electric. That’s definitely our first approach, but we will also be exploring hydrogen fuel cell buses, which is a different technology that is in the space when you look at zero-emission vehicles.  So, we’re very excited to be implementing this plan, and I think the community will benefit from it greatly in terms of carbon emission reduction and then also having that diversity of fleets. We like to say that, “We’re the greenest thing on the road,” and we want to continue to be that for the community.  

Laura Whitley: Absolutely!  I mean, living up to that phrase is important, and you know, just by definition, utilizing public transit and getting cars off the road and, you know, that helps reduce carbon footprint. It has to be exciting to be able to even look ahead at, you know, what more we can do.  

Kimberly Williams: Oh, absolutely! If you look at previous climate studies done in the region, one of the largest emitters of carbon emissions has been passenger vehicles.  And we know we have a lot of single, occupied vehicles traveling on our roadway network, which contributes to congestion, as well as pollution, and so if more people choose METRO, and we provide such a variety of services from, you know, our local bus routes system to our very popular Park and Ride system. We have Vanpool, and even if you’re carpooling on our HOV/HOT Lanes, every single one of those steps individually, collectively, helps reduce environmental impact to the region, and so, we always promote and encourage people, if you are looking for a green solution, a green travel option, you know, ride METRO.  

It is that answer to how we get more cars off the road and have more shared trips, and because we do have such a variety, we just—even during the pandemic, we were in support of the Uptown Management District in launching the region’s first Bus Rapid Transit line. We launched a new app-based curb to curb service called Curb2Curb, and so, there are so many options available that if people want to create that greener footprint, they can do so. Even if it’s just riding METRO for a day or two a week. All those things help.  

Laura Whitley: Kim, going forward, you know, what’s really—is there a way that people can be part of the conversation, share ideas, stay informed? What do you recommend?  

Kimberly Williams: You know, that’s a great question. I mentioned it earlier that there are a number of nonprofits in the region, and I think that’s a great place if you’re interested in learning more about where the region is going in terms of reducing environmental impact. I mentioned that there is the Environment Defense Fund. There is the EVolve, and they both have websites that are available. And I apologize I don’t know the URLs off the top of my head, but if you Google either of those organizations, they should pop up. And as I mentioned, right here in our own backyard, we have the University of Houston. We have Texas Southern University, and we have Rice, who METRO is working with all those institutions to learn as much as we can about these opportunities.  We’ve been working with the University of Houston on our Autonomous Vehicle Project, which we’re very excited about. The first phase of that was completed because of the pandemic, but I’m excited that the Federal Transit Administration has given us substantial funding to advance to a Phase II with a newer, advanced vehicle.  So, you will start to see that in late next year.  

Laura Whitley: Oh, that’s exciting!

Kimberly Williams: It is! It is!  

Laura Whitley: And is that also a zero-emissions vehicle or an electric-type vehicle?  

Kimberly Williams: Oh, they are. They’re both. Both zero emissions. Both electric vehicles, but also autonomous. And so, I’m excited about Houston because we’re—in addition to electric buses, we’re already looking ahead to the future and doing autonomous electric vehicles as well, which we see as being a very important transit solution as we move into the future, particularly with the shortage of operators and drivers out there. This is a way for us to try and balance that and while also creating new jobs in the transportation fields for folks who are interested in green technology like electric buses and like autonomous electric buses, so there’s a lot of exciting things happening.  

Laura Whitley: So much ahead and very fitting for a city with the name “The Space City.” No doubt. So, again, I really appreciate it, and is there anything else you’d like to add, or you think is important for folks to know?  

Kimberly Williams: I think the important thing to know—and I say this a lot because I don’t think people realize it—we truly are the greenest thing on the road. If you look at climate change studies throughout the region, you’ll see that public transportation has a very small emissions level. We have been a very sustainably sound organization, and a lot of people don’t realize that how green we are today and how we’re continuing to advance in that regard. So, I say all the time, “We’re the greenest thing on the road.”  So, take METRO!

Laura Whitley: And with that, we will say goodbye. Kimberly Williams, METRO Chief Innovation Officer, thank you for joining the Next Stop.  

Kimberly Williams: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.  

Laura Whitley: You’re welcome.  

[Music plays]

Laura Whitley: That’s all for this edition of the Next Stop. I’m Laura Whitley. If you’d like to check out more episodes, you can find them on our website or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Google Play. And, if you could please do us a favor and leave a rating or a review, it’ll help us out a lot. Until next time, drive less, do more with METRO.  

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