MORGANTOWN – The Mountain Line Transit Authority has five buses running on propane.
They’re looking better by the day to CEO Maria Smith.
It’s not hard to figure out why.
In addition to the propane-powered people movers, the transit authority has 17 diesel buses, nine gas buses and six minivans on the road each day.
“We have a gas/diesel tank that holds 4,000 gallons of gas and 6,000 gallons of diesel, and we fill it about every eight to 10 days,” Smith said. “Our monthly bills for gas and diesel have been generally around $50,000. In March, it was up around $70,000.”
Totals for April and May are higher still.
Mountain Line has an annual fuel contract through which it pays the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) market rate, plus a small markup for delivery. That wholesale market rate doesn’t include things like state and federal taxes.
So while Mountain Line isn’t paying the same price per gallon at the pump being charged at your favorite gas station, it’s buying at a way higher volume – and the price is rising just the same.
In February, Mountain Line paid $1.91 for a gallon of gas and $2.74 for a gallon of diesel. In March, that jumped to $2.50 and $4. April was $3.07 and $3.83 and currently, the cost is $3.68 for gas and $4.73 for diesel.
“We are currently at 88.5% of our annual fuel budget of $600,000 for fiscal year 2025-26. This is about 5% higher than we expected to be at the close of April,” Smith said. “If the increases continue, we will be over budget.”
Smith said fuel costs are always the most difficult budget item to predict.
Her predecessor, Dave Bruffy, said the same in March 2022, about three months before the consumer price for gas hit its record high of $4.95 in north-central West Virginia.
Less than a year later, Mountain Line announced it planned to take advantage of federal incentives to begin modernizing transit fleets with low/no emission alternatives.
The transit authority settled on liquid propane.
In May 2023, the transit authority approved the purchase of three smaller, non-CDL, propane-powered buses for $520,560.
It was explained that propane vehicles run cleaner and have the same range as gasoline engines.
When gas prices are low, the cost is somewhat comparable. The advantage is propane prices are more stable over time.
In April, when Mountain Line was paying $3.07 for a gallon of gas, an equivalent amount of propane was $1.96.
In the 10 months between July 2025 and April 2025, Mountain Line’s average cost for propane was $2 for the equivalent of one gallon of gas.
Smith said believes all of Mountain Line’s mid-sized, gas-powered buses will eventually be propane-powered.
The larger diesel buses, however, are not currently compatible.
