Seen in New York: Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 02.13.07
The New York City Bus system uses over 1,280 buses and is considered the ninth largest transit bus fleet in North America. Its impact is significant. Although the City of New York owns most of the buses, seven private bus operators provide the service. The bus system carries over 114 million people annually. In the year 2000 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or the MTA as it is more commonly known - started the Clean Fuel Bus Program, which is envisaged to give New York the world's cleanest bus fleet.
Designed to give cost-effective emissions reductions as quickly as possible, the Clean Fuel Bus Program is an initiative of the local government in an explicit attempt to set an example of environmental standards. It takes a mostly technological approach, aiming to replace or retrofit the existing diesel bus fleet with cleaner technologies. The initiative goes voluntarily beyond mandatory emission control standards. To achieve these goals Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses are used as well as hybrid buses, and clean diesel technologies.
Goals of the program include reducing bus fleet emissions to levels below current U.S. mandates, as well as reducing the cost of operations by improving fuel economy and avoiding many infrastructure costs. General service improvements in terms of equipment reliability and quieter operation were some others.
Curious about the details of the Clean Fuel Bus Program? Check out the ::Clean Air Initiative.
This posting actually seems to confuse two different systems. The MTA has about 4,700 buses and one of the biggest, if not the biggest fleet in North America. The 1,280 buses referred to in the first line of the article were part of a separate system of city-subsidized private bus lines that no longer exists. Those bus lines have been absorbed into the MTA over the last two years.
Acutally, the Clean Fuel Bus Program was part of the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act which NY voters overwhelmingly voted into law in the late 90's.
The Clean Fuel Bus Program was a component of the Bond Act which has been a huge success.
MTA does not run the program. The NY State Energy Research and Development Authority (www.nyserda.org) runs the program which MTA applies for every solicitation.
Just thought we should get our information as true and accurate as possible.
I actualy lived within Manhattan and was quite pleased to see these buses. Progress is coming..slowly but surely.