The Butler Transit Authority’s plans to add a new compressed natural gas station to support bus service to Pittsburgh is moving forward, but riders have a while to wait before the route is established.

John Paul, executive director of the authority, said the state Department of Transportation is getting requests for proposals for the CNG station, which would be built at the authority’s office building on Hollywood Drive.

Paul said PennDOT has a handful of prospective bidders seeking to build 20 CNG stations across the state. Butler’s station is included in the bundle.

“The state is bidding it as a whole package,” Paul said, comparing it to a similar statewide bridge replacement plan that bundled more than 500 projects to one long-term agreement.

Like the state’s bridge replacements, grouping the CNG stations into a bundle is expected to lower the final cost per project.

The authority received $2.5 million in state and federal grants to pay for the new station and to upgrade its existing building. Paul said he would not know the final cost of the work until after the contract is awarded.

The authority has been discussing the project for about six years.

Prospective bidders will be in Butler later this month to inspect the site, Paul said.

He thinks the proposals could be made to the state in June, with a contract being awarded around September.

“It’s not a simple process,” he said. “They have to compile a lot of information for each locale.”

Paul said the state already has a short list of companies to do the project. Those companies would be responsible for maintaining the station for 20 years.

While the contract may be given out by the end of the year, Paul said he doesn’t expect work to begin in Butler for some time.

“At this point, not before three or four years from now,” he said of a possible completion. “But because of our size, I don’t see us being at the beginning of the process.”

The authority hopes the CNG station will help to pave the way for bus routes to Pittsburgh from Butler.

Paul said the next step in the process after the station is to buy four CNG buses. The authority already has about $3 million in state and federal grants for those buses.

The authority also has been approved to receive $250,000 in grants per year for three years to cover operating expenses for the buses. However, Paul said the board would have to check the status of about $85,000 in pledges made by the county and local municipalities to support the service.

Paul said it could be six years before the first bus leaves Butler for Pittsburgh.

While the service is years off, the authority is taking steps to prepare for it.

The authority on Tuesday approved buying new software for the fair boxes on its buses. Once installed, the software will allow riders to use a bus card to pay for trips.

The software also will connect Butler’s transit system to the Port Authority system in Pittsburgh, as well as other systems in the region.

That will allow riders to use one bus card on any of the bus systems, Paul said.

Paul said the new bus cards should be available for use in Butler within a year.