Denver Bike Sharing Announces CNG Conversion for Truck Fleet

By Matt Sep 16, 2011 | 11:46AM

We marked the occasion with the first official CNG fill up at a Valero-owned gas station at 10th Ave. and Broadway. "Thanks to the support of Encana, Denver Bike Sharing is excited that we were able to convert our truck fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG)," said Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver Bike Sharing. "The conversion of CNG supports our goal of being environmentally sustainable in all aspects of our business operations."

Our trucks are used for several purposes and we drive more than we would like, so reducing the impact on the environment of our operations is important to us.  We use trucks to balance our system which ensures that bikes are always available when you need to get on a B-cycle and that there are empty docks at the station when you arrive.  In addition, we use the trucks to take bikes out of the field to perform maintenance on them and return bikes to the system when we have completed the necessary maintenance.   

In Colorado CNG prices are about $1 per gallon less than conventional gasoline so, Denver Bike Sharing estimates annual fuel cost savings of $1,500 to $2,000 following the CNG conversion.  In addition to fuel savings, driving our CNG vehicles instead of their gasoline-powered counterpart will reduce our carbon monoxide emissions by 90-97% and carbon dioxide emissions 25%.  Our trucks will also emit fewer toxic & carcinogenic pollutants and little to no particulate matter. (Source: US Dept. of Energy)  Operating a business in Denver we feel it is our responsibility to reduce as many emissions as we can.  Overall, Denver Bike Sharing is pleased to have the support of partners like Encana to help reduce our impact on the environment.