However, buses ordered after 2008 feature cords rather than tape strips due to the latter's higher maintenance cost.
[12] Beginning in 2016, new orders along with buses built after 2011 will be built/retrofitted with Wi-Fi connectivity and USB charging ports.
[13] Starting in 2016, efforts to bring an audio/visual system to the current and future fleet went underway to improve customer service and ADA accessibility thru use of next stop announcements & PSAs.
[14] The screens are supplied by contract from 3 different vendors and are installed on new bus deliveries starting in 2017 while buses built after 2008 are currently receiving retrofits.
[4] Buses running compressed natural gas (CNG) were first tested in the early 1990s,[16][17] and were mass-ordered beginning in 1995.
[22][23] In 2017, the MTA tested a fleet of ten forty-foot battery electric buses – five from New Flyer and five from Proterra, the XE40 Xcelsior CHARGE and Catalyst BE40 models respectively.
[24] Later in 2021, the MTA awarded New Flyer the contract for the electric bus order, set to arrive in late 2022 and 2023.
[24] In 2022, the MTA announced that they would trial hydrogen fuel cell buses, funded by a grant from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.