USA / Canada – Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, a public transport operator serving Champaign County, Illinois, USA, announced it is to deploy a fleet of buses supplied by New Flyer Industries Canada ULC, a subsidiary of the NFI Group based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and fuelled by green hydrogen, making it the first bus fleet in the country to run entirely on renewably-sourced hydrogen. 

The deployment is part of the company’s ‘Riding on Sunshine’ project, which was unveiled at its facility in Urbana, Illinois. The event was attended by Federal Transit Administration Administrator Nuria Fernandez, American Public Transportation Association President Paul Skoutelas, Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman Rodney Davis, Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman, and NFI President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Soubry. The transport operator has begun producing its own hydrogen at the facility, using energy generated by solar power. The project has received USD5m from the Federal Transit Administration.