Five years after providing Twin Transit with a grant to fund an electric bus charging station, the public transportation agency thanked the TransAlta Coal Transition Board with the unveiling of a new bus wrap Tuesday.
The 2017 grant was for $37,810 and funded the majority of the project. The unveiling of the new bus wrap was fittingly held outside the TransAlta Commons at Centralia College.
“Before the completion of the Mellen Street e-Transit Station or the arrival of Twin Transit’s electric buses, the TransAlta Coal Transition Board provided the initial funding for Twin Transit’s electric bus charging infrastructure,” wrote Andrea Culletto, communications director for Twin Transit. “You could say that this was the initial impetus which made all of Twin Transit’s clean energy initiatives possible.”
Twin Transit designed the special electric bus wrap in partnership with the Winlock-Vader Food Bank, the Onalaska School District, the Tumwater School District, the Riverside Fire Authority, New Market Skills Center and other organizations that have benefitted from TransAlta Coal Transition Board grant funding.
“Yesterday we were able to thank the TransAlta board for believing in that vision of zero-emission infrastructure, by displaying the technology they helped bring to Twin Transit,” Twin Transit wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “We are proud to unveil the TransAlta wrap on our electric bus, featuring a few of the many projects that TransAlta has funded.”
The TransAlta Coal Transition Board was formed as a result of the 2010 agreement between TransAlta and the state of Washington to transition the Centralia plant away from coal-fired operations with one unit shutting down in December 2020 and the second unit in December 2025.
