CBB came together in the summer of 1997 to address the problem of dirty diesel buses, trucks, and cars streaming through Boston's neighborhoods and harming the health and quality of life of city residents. This service is indispensible to the greater Boston area and offers an alternative to commuting by car.
Public transportation reduces the number of cars on the road and the attendant air quality problems.
But the environmental benefits of buses over cars could be vastly increased by cleaning up the diesel bus fleet and converting it to cleaner, alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas or electricity. One of CBB's primary goals is to rid the metro Boston area of diesel fuel buses and replace them with buses that run on cleaner, alternative fuels. Pedestrians suffer considerable exposure to pollution from diesel buses, especially while waiting at bus stops. For example, at the Dudley station in Roxbury, as many as 50 buses serving 14 different routes can pass through in just 30 minutes. And half the bus fleet is housed at garages within two miles of Dudley Square in the heart of Roxbury, where the asthma rate is five times higher than the state average.