The next fleet of DART buses will be powered by compressed natural gas, and should begin service in 2013, following a DART board committee's unanimous vote Tuesday to authorize $217 million to buy up to 452 of the coaches.........

.....Fueling stations

The agency will still have to spend more for each CNG-powered bus. And it will have to build the fueling stations, though the U.S. government is partially offsetting that cost. A 2010 report by the American Public Transportation Association showed CNG-powered buses accounted for just 14 percent of new bus orders by transit agencies in 2009. Diesel accounted for about 28 percent, and orders for buses with electric hybrid engines, which also use diesel, 43 percent.

But after locking in natural gas prices through 2020, Thomas and other officials said Tuesday that DART will save enough on fuel to more than compensate for the all the other higher costs.