PennDOT, CamTran and other local and state representatives attended the ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday for the new CNG gas station on Maple Avenue in Johnstown.

The new natural gas station is the first in the entire state and can be used not only by city buses, but also public vehicles that use CNG fuel.

The gas station cost around $2.5 million. CamTran also opened another gas pump, strictly for public buses.

Eventually, there will be 29 CNG stations across the state, with 15 set to open by the end of this year.

Compressed natural gas is cheaper than diesel fuel: about .40 to .50 cents cheaper per gallon.

“The great thing about natural gas is that the price of the fuel is steady. The geopolitical situation in the world causes the price to swing for crude oil. Consequently, that flows down to the cost of gas and diesel and you see tremendous amounts of swings in the price of that fuel. Natural gas is a domestically produced fuel. The supply here in the United States is abundant and the price is very stable,” said William Zobel, VP of Sales and Marketing for Trillium CNG.

In Cambria County, there are seven public buses that can use CNG fuel. They plan to add 12 more this year. Over the next five years, CamTran officials said they plan to switch the entire fleet of buses to CNG fuel.