NEENAH, Wis.— Valley Transit in Wisconsin’s Fox Cities showed off their new clean diesel buses in Neenah on Thursday.

The transit system’s general manager Ron McDonald says the five roughly half-million-dollar buses are the first of 15 new​ buses that will upgrade the fleet over the next three years.

“We’re delighted to have the first set of buses here,” McDonald says.

The system purchased the buses with grant money awarded by the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trusts.

The trusts were established as part of a multibillion-dollar settlement between the German automaker and the U.S. government after investigators found the company selling diesel engines with software that inaccurately displayed emissions data.

“There was a negative out there where Volkswagen got into some trouble with their emissions and now we’re able to update these fleets that are out on the streets all day long,” McDonald says.

Valley Transit has 18 routes that span 117 square miles through the communities that make up the Fox Cities.

Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford was on hand in Neenah for a ceremony Thursday. He says Valley Transit provides an essential service.

“Quite frankly we would have really struggled to replace this entire fleet had it not been for these resources so we’re so grateful to have the opportunity,” Woodford says. “You have to be able to count on transit and having a new fleet… is an important piece of that.”

McDonald says Valley Transit hopes to roll out 5 additional buses in 2021, and 5 more in 2022.