Tidewater Regional Transit (TRT), Norfolk, Va., operates mass transit in the Hampton Roads area. It includes three passenger ferries that transport nearly 500,000 people per year across the Elizabeth River between downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va. Like other mass transit providers, TRT receives federal, state and local funds and is encouraged to use alternative fuels to reduce dependence on foreign oil and help improve the environment. But unlike any other transit authority, TRT is successfully operating the world's first passenger ferry powered exclusively by natural gas. The idea to convert one of TRT's diesel-powered ferries to natural gas resulted from a 1989 meeting with representatives of Virginia Natural Gas to discuss bus fuel conversion.