TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) – The Cherokee Nation has replaced several gas-powered transit buses with new environmentally friendly buses that run on compressed natural gas.

Four new buses to shuttle citizens to appointments, jobs and grocery stores arrived this week. They will not only save the tribe on fuel costs, but also reduce emission levels, trial officials say.

The Tahlequah-based tribe bought the CNG buses using a $300,000 Federal Transit Administration grant it received last spring.

The Cherokee Nation will lease three of the CNG transit buses to Ki Bois Area Transit System, which has routes in Adair, Cherokee, McIntosh, Sequoyah and Wagoner counties, and one bus to Pelivan Transit, which has services in Craig, Delaware, Mayes, Nowata, Ottawa, Rogers and north Tulsa counties.