December 15th, 2008 · No Comments

“You have to be careful what those politicians tell you. Sometimes they find out things are different (when they get to the lawmaking).”

Chrisman has ridden on a hybrid bus, and acknowledges that “if you had all the money in the world, the hybrids would be great.” But spending that much extra taxpayer money would be imprudent, he said, adding that some of his colleagues on the DART Board disagree and contend that perhaps a third of the Dallas fleet should be new hybrids.

At the moment, cities with bigger public transit systems have an advantage when it comes to hybrids because they can place bigger orders and bargain for better prices, Stewart said.

That may have helped leader New York City, as well as Seattle and San Francisco, other big buyers of hybrids that have justified the upfront outlay because they factored in a high priority on environmentalism, she said.

A SUCCESSFUL MANHATTAN PROJECT

New York City has pioneered and led the movement toward hybrid buses, which now number about 1,000 out of the city’s fleet of 6,200 buses, the largest in the nation.

“They’re more expensive because they’re new technology and they are complicated. However, they do pay dividends in clean air and fuel economy,” Seaton said.

The hybrids have proven well-suited for Manhattan traffic, because they excel in stop-and-start situations, when the battery takes over from the diesel engine.

Hybrids buses have additional bonuses. Along with the smooth ride, the buses are assembled differently, on a lower platform, resulting in a one-step entry for passengers, which makes them easier to access for anyone who has difficulty walking and also eliminates the need for wheelchair lifts because a ramp at the doorway is sufficient, Seaton said.

Another plus: the buses are locally manufactured in New York State by Daimler-Chrysler and BAE Systems, producer of the hybrid-drive system.

Lately, the city has been retrofitting its older hybrids with newer lithium-ion batteries, which are more efficient than previous batteries, and that should solidify their role as the public bus of the present and the future for the densest parts of NYC, Seaton said.

But the city will continue to rely on the low-sulfur diesels that still comprise the bulk of its fleet for long haul and “express service” routes where diesels compete best.

As for CNG buses, “that was always viewed by us as a bridge technology, largely because of the huge cost (of $15-$20 million each) to retrofit our depots,” Seaton said.

Back in Dallas, which suffers from congested freeways, but lacks the heavy downtown traffic patterns of Manhattan – and enjoys the support of T. Boone Pickens’ offer to help out with CNG fueling stations – the equations are different.

Seaton, Stewart and Chrisman agree that every city must weigh its options based on its unique urban landscape and needs.

The green solution for Dallas?  The crystal ball remains opaque. DART will resume the debate in January, and it hopes to soon settle on which buses will take the city to 2020 and beyond.

“It’s all a matter of how you allocate dollars. You get finite dollars and you try to put them to best use,” Chrisman said. “The good news is even our existing buses take a lot of pollution out of the air compared to all those automobiles.”

“They’re more expensive because they’re new technology and they are complicated. However, they do pay dividends in clean air and fuel economy,” he said.

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