Banning Travel Center

The City owns and operates a CNG fueling facility located at the Corporate Yard (176 E. Lincoln Street). The facility was commissioned in 2004 and serves the City’s fleet (i.e. transit buses and dump truck) and the Banning Unified School District (BUSD) bus fleet. The existing CNG fueling facility is several years beyond it’s useful life, is constantly under repair and parts are becoming increasingly difficult to purchase. If the facility were to go down the City’s CNG fleet would have to travel to either Redlands, Moreno Valley or Palm Springs to refuel.

On September 12, 2023, City Council awarded a Design-Build Agreement to EFS West Inc., in Valcencia, in the amount of $3,354.013 for the Compressed Natrual Gas (CNG) Fueling Station and the City is proud to announce that the project is fully funded by State Transit Assitance (STA) funds.

The scope of work for this project includes the completion of the project design, engineering, permits, grading, construction, material, labor, testing, verification, procurement, commissioning, and installation of all equipment.

Design components for the CNG fueling station include single tower dryer with manually activated regeneration, CNG compressor, coalescing filter assembly, priority/sequential control valve panel, 3-bank cascade storage, fast-fill dispenser, fuel management system, time-fill posts, time-fill meters for City and BUSD daily fuel dispensing, defueling panel, compressed air system, and station master control system. Design shall include demolition and construction of new perimeter wall, grading and paving to accommodate the new public dispensers.

Additionally, it should be noted that the Public Works Department Transit Division completed a zero- emission bus (ZEB) transition study to create a plan for a 100% zero-emission fleet by 2040 as required by the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) regulation enacted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The ZEB transition study indicates that the City will continue to have CNG vehicles until 2039 and this project supports this effort.

Pending needed repairs it is anticipated that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fuel will be available to the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in mid-late 2025.