Some Canadian history was made on Thursday at the Ontario Northland bus station in North Bay.

An Ontario Northland bus will be operating on Compressed Natural Gas or CNG.

This is the first CNG motor coach in the country.

Ontario Northland President and CEO Corina Moore says this is a pilot project and the bus will operate as an additional coach and they are looking for public input because they are doing a feasibility study.

She says they’re looking at the impact of using this vehicle under different conditions as they operate from minus 50 in Hearst to much warmer conditions in Toronto.

The northeast district manager of Union Gas Chris Minor says CNG takes natural gas and pressurizes it to get more volume of gas in a smaller space.

He says the benefits include lower emissions, less noise and savings on filling up.

Moore says reducing emissions at Ontario Northland is a priority and days like today will move the industry forward.

Filed under: compressed-natural-gas, ontario-northland, union-gas