City of Boston Fleet and Bio-diesel Fuel

In September 2005, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced that all new vehicles purchased by the City of Boston will be alternative fuel vehicles or vehicles with similar fuel economy. Additionally, 450 City vehicles that currently run on diesel fuel will begin using bio-diesel, a clean, domestically produces fuel, blended with ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD).

School Bus Retrofit

Using $3.25 million from an EPA enforcement case settlement with a local power plant, Boston is retrofitting 500 school buses with the pollution control equipment and supplying them with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD). Once completed in 2006, Boston will be the first major city in the country to retrofit its entire school bud fleet. The project will reduce tail pipe emissions from the buses, primarily SO2, CO, and particulates by more than 90%. Additionally, there will be a slight reduction in CO2 emissions.

Trolley Tour buses

In 2005, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Robert W. Varney oversaw the completion of a project which equipped Boston's diesel tourist trolleys with pollution control equipment, significantly lowering their emissions and resulting air pollution.