Buses World News

In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry

28.4.09

New Hybrid Buses * USA - Metro debuts

Eden Park,Cincinnati,Ohio,USA -Urban Cincy, by Randy Simes -April 20, 2009: -- Metro will debut the first 6 of their 15 new hybrid buses on Tuesday, April 21st...
The new hybrid buses will have a "unique go*GREEN hybrid design" that will reduce soot and hydrocarbon emissions by at least 90% and use about 30% less fuel that the typical Metro bus. Additional hybrid buses will be purchased next year with some of the $17.5 million that Metro received from stimulus funds in March...

Labels: hybrids buses

8.12.08

HYBRID BUSES * USA - CTA unveils new ones

Transit agency is acquiring 150 of the more-efficient, less-polluting vehicles

Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by Jon Hilkevitch -December 4, 2008: -- CTA officials showed off new hybrid buses Wednesday that carry more passengers and belch less emissions than the older vehicles they are replacing... The New Flyer articulated buses are plugged into electrical sockets at bus garages each night to recharge rooftop battery packs, which provide most of the power needed during operation the next day... It marks a big improvement over the traditional method in winter of keeping bus motors running for long periods overnight to ensure the vehicles will start in the morning, officials said... CTA officials disagreed, saying the diesel-electric bus saves fuel by using battery power and running the engine at idle when the vehicle is traveling at up to 25 m.p.h. Engine power is increased only when the speed exceeds 25 m.p.h., which in city traffic is not often.The CTA is able to afford the $156 million deal by leasing the buses for 12 years, then taking ownership, CTA President Ron Huberman said... (Tribune photo by Michael Tercha / December 3, 2008: Mayor Richard Daley tours one of the CTA's new hybrid buses in the transit agency's 103rd Street bus barn. The New Flyer articulated buses carry more passengers and belch less emissions than the older vehicles they are replacing. The transit agency is acquiring 150 of the 60-foot-long buses by next summer to replace buses dating to 1991 and 1995)

* Schenectady schools try 2 hybrid buses - District is part of state study

Schenectady,NY,USA -The Schenectady Gazette, by Michael Goot -December 4, 2008: -- A three-year test run of two hybrid buses in the Schenectady school district is under way to help develop information on fuel economy... Officials from the New York Power Authority and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority announced the partnership with the district at Zoller Elementary School Wednesday morning... The state purchased two buses from Leonard Bus Sales of Deposit, near Syracuse... (Photographer: Ana Zangroniz - Schenectady School District Superintendent Eric Ely, right, speaks during a press conference announcing the New York Power Authority and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will launch the first side-by-side study in the nation on the performance of different hybrid school bus technologies.The press conference was held at the Zoller School Wednesday.)

* Hybrid School Bus Study

Albany,NY,USA -WXXA, by Kathryn Hauser -4Dec 2008: -- Bob Raymond has been a bus driver for Schenectady city schools for 15 years. Today, for the first time, he's testing some of the district's new hybrid buses... "It smells clean when you're outside the bus and standing and in the back of the bus"... Schenectady school district is one of three in NYS testing these hybrid buses and the Bob looks forward to driving them...

Labels: hybrids buses

7.11.08

Hybrid Technology * USA - Could Have School Bus Applications

Navistar, Eaton Corporation and UPS will partner on a new technology for delivery trucks that may have applications for school buses

Atlanta,GA,USA -School Transportations News -Oct. 31, 2008: — The companies recently announced the sale of seven hydraulic hybrid UPS trucks. Rather than store energy from breaking in batteries or capacitors, as hybrid electric vehicles do, hydraulic hybrids store the energy by compressing hydraulic fluid under pressure in a chamber. Like hybrid electric vehicles, the hydraulic hybrids release this energy when accelerating at low speeds to reduce fuel consumption... According to UPS and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency testing, the vehicles achieve a 45 to 50 percent improvement in fuel economy compared to conventional diesel trucks. UPS estimates the trucks would also reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 30 percent... Roy Wiley, a spokesman for Navistar’s school bus division, IC Bus, said because school buses and delivery vehicles have similar drive cycles, the technology has potential applications for school buses, though he could not say whether the company had any projects in development. The EPA has also said the technology has potential applications for shuttle buses, transit buses and refuse pick-up vehicles...

Labels: hybrids buses

22.11.07

Hybrid * USA - States test-drive school buses

The big yellow school bus is going green

Raleigh,NC,USA -USA TODAY, by Ron Barnett -16 Nov 2007: -- With an eye on reducing emissions — and the cost of diesel fuel topping $3.50 per gallon — eight states are testing 11 hybrid buses, and more are on the way... Managing the project is Ewan Pritchard of Raleigh, N.C.-based Advanced Energy, a non-profit corporation overseen by the governor of North Carolina and member utilities... (Photo by Brett Flashnick for USA TODAY: Students at Round Top Elementary, in Blythewood, S.C., load onto the hybrid bus after school on Nov. 8. The Hybrid Bus is being tested in Blythewood and in seven other states)

Labels: hybrids buses

12.7.07

Hybrid Buses * Canada - Axed from plans

BC Transit study finds diesel engines a more cost effective option

Saanich,BC,Canada -The Saanich News, by Andrei Bondoreff -Jul 11 2007: -- Hybrids may be the future of engine technology, but for now, BC Transit officials believe diesel engine buses are the most cost effective for Capital Region routes... Over a year ago, BC Transit unveiled three hybrid buses in Victoria as part of a trial to gauge their reliability and efficiency... After careful monitoring, Transit found the buses, which utilize an electric battery power source for low speeds and switch to an internal combustion system for higher speeds, were well suited to Victoria’s stop- and-go urban environment. Fuel savings targets that were set at 20 per cent over the fleet’s 1992-2003 generation of buses, were exceeded by the hybrids and ran, in some cases, as high as 28 per cent... Compared to the newest Nova Cummins clean diesel buses procured since 2003, however, the hybrids performed with only eight per cent greater fuel efficiency... (Photo by Don Denton - In May, BC Transit unveiled its hybrid bus. The buses have been axed in favour of diesels.)

Labels: hybrids buses

28.6.07

Cutting cost of hybrids * USA - IIT design could save CTA millions

Local engineering students and their research professors are hoping to fuel interest in accelerating the Chicago Transit Authority's commitment to operating cleaner-running hybrid buses

Chicago,Ill,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by Jon Hilkevitch -June 25, 2007: -- ... The team at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has developed several types of hybrid electric conversion kits for diesel buses and other heavy-duty vehicles. Billed as a revolutionary conversion technology, the kits contain battery packs that help to as much as double fuel efficiency compared with strictly diesel-powered engines, and they cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least half, the researchers say... The high capital cost of acquiring alternative-energy vehicles has been a major obstacle to expanding fuel-conserving technology across the CTA's fleet of about 2,100 buses... The IIT researchers say their conversion kits can knock $80,000 to $100,000 off the $180,000 cost that the CTA is now paying to go hybrid on each bus...

Labels: hybrids buses

20.6.07

HYBRIDS * USA - Burbank to Get Hybrid Fuel Cell Buses

Buses will Run on Compressed Natural Gas

Burbank,CA,USA -abc7.com -June 19, 2007: -- The Burbank transit system received more than $3 million in grants to add up to eight buses to its fleet, including one hybrid fuel cell vehicle, city officials said Tuesday... The Hybrid-Electric Fuel Cell Bus can run on Compressed Natural Gas, propane and bio-diesel fuel systems... The vehicle will also feature multimedia technology -- including WiFi/Bluetooth -- and will be handicapped-accessible... The funding came from two Metropolitan Transit Authority grants and a third from the California Air Resources Board...

Labels: hybrids buses

14.6.07

Hybrid-Powered Buses * USA - 113 GM Units Rolling into New York

Rochester and 4 other NY cities to opt for improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions

Rochester, NY,USA -WebWire -13 June 2007 : -- The number of GM hybrid-powered buses ordered by New York transit agencies grew to 113 with today’s announcement by Regional Transit Service (RTS), Inc., a subsidiary of the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) serving Monroe County, to purchase 19 buses equipped with GM’s hybrid technology... When the deliveries are completed next year, New York will boast the second largest statewide fleet of GM hybrid-powered buses, the state of Washington leads with 240 hybrid-powered buses... By using GM’s 2-mode hybrid system, the 113 diesel-electric buses in New York will save an estimated 165,000 gallons of fuel annually and significantly reduce emissions compared with conventional diesel buses...

Labels: hybrids buses