Ford Motor Company and the city of Detroit team up to score GREEN public transportation

DEARBORN, Mich.– Ford Motor Company is teaming up with the City of Detroit to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Econoline vans for the city's Welfare-to-Work participants, the goal being to provide dependable and convenient public transportation.

The federally funded program, Green Rides, will combine efforts of the Detroit Employment and Training Department with several city-based commuter transportation programs such as EZ Ride. Through this approach, recipients, who often spend hours waiting for transportation, or have none at all, will gain access to jobs in the Detroit metropolitan area, which has one of the highest job growth rates in the state.

"We are pleased to have the support of Ford Motor Company to provide clean natural gas vans to serve the transportation needs of our most distressed citizens," said Mayor Dennis Archer. "The City of Detroit wins in two ways with this program: we provide a way for people to get well-needed jobs and we do it while improving air quality."

The vans used by Green Rides will average sixty percent fewer smog-forming emissions than their gasoline counterparts without losing performance. Moreover, the vehicles will meet Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (SULEV) federal certification and deliver the same quality and reliability as gasoline.

"With this program, the partnership between Ford Motor Company and the City of Detroit continues to build on the previous alternative fuel transportation efforts that created the EZ Ride program," said Martin Zimmerman, Ford Motor Company vice president of government affairs. "We are pleased with the efforts of this program that uses natural gas vehicles to provide transportation solutions which benefit everyone."

The Job Access and Reverse Commute Transportation Plan is the work of over 17 federal and local agencies, not-for-profit groups, and Ford Motor Company. The programs strive to implement an innovative transportation system for Detroit residents to access jobs in the Detroit metropolitan area. Ford Motor Company is not only a business partner but also committed to assisting in workforce development.

In addition to working with Detroit, Ford Motor Company has plans to work with fifteen other Welfare-to-Work target cities including Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles. Likewise, talks are already underway in Chicago and New York City to promote comparable Green Rides programs.