The Federal Transit Administration has ap­proved a $1.8 million grant for Amtran to buy seven new compressed natural gas buses for delivery in 2021, provided that PennDOT provides an equal matching grant, as expected.

Those seven buses will be in addition to 16 new CNG buses the authority will receive this year — for a total of 23 new natural gas-powered motor coaches over the next few years.

The new buses will shrink the average age of the Am­tran fleet from 19 to 3, according to Amtran Gen­eral Manager Eric Wolf.

The concentrated influx is unique in the history of the organization, Wolf said.

The current average bus age of 19 is “very old,” given that the expected useful life of any bus is 12 years, Wolf said.

In 2021, after the final seven arrive and the authority sells off the buses those replace, the oldest vehicle in the 26-bus fleet will be three 2012 diesel-electrics, Wolf said.

Amtran will receive six CNG buses in June, thanks to $3.1 million in grants approved in 2016 by the FTA and PennDOT.

The authority will re­ceive 10 more in October, thanks to a $5.3 million grant from PennDOT approved last fall.

Wolf is confident that Amtran will get the seven additional buses in 2021 based on the belief that PennDOT will match the $1.8 million from the FTA, based on an unwillingness to squander that federal largesse, Wolf said.

The barrage of grants to buy CNG buses has resulted from PennDOT’s $84.5 million investment in CNG filling stations at 29 transit agencies, including Am­tran, in hopes of promoting the state’s natural gas industry.

Amtran’s station is complete, and a ribbon cutting will be held soon.

The coming of the first six CNG buses will allow Amtran to get rid of its six oldest buses — classic GMC “Fishbowls,” so named because of their windshield de­sign, built between 1974 and 1976.

There will be restrictions on the sales, as Amtran is looking to convey the iconic buses to organizations that would restore them, preferably organizations with a restoration track record, Wolf said.

The buses would fetch less than $1,000 each at auction, Wolf said.

The buyer of the most recently sold GMC drove it straight to the junkyard, Wolf said.

“I would rather that not happen again,” he stated.

“I would be sick to my stomach if they were all sold for scrap,” said Amtran board Chairman Scott Cessna, former executive director of the Railroaders Memorial Museum.

American Industrial Mining Co., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit specializing in the preservation of industrial and mining equipment throughout the U.S., is interested in one of the GMCs.

The Fishbowls are the last of their kind in public service in North America, said Pete Jedlicka of Pittsburgh, president and co-founder of the organization.

“The bus was an ICON,” Jedlicka wrote in an email. It was a type that transported many people to heavy industrial jobs, and the possibility of acquiring one has “captivated” the group, he wrote. The group hopes to turn the GMC from Amtran into a rolling museum that would frequent shows and events, he said.

To the group, it represents “the American spirit, hard work and daily dedication,” Jedlicka wrote. “(It) provided a means of transportation to earn a living.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.