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Hybrid buses for HSR
July 9, 2006
Hybrid bus.
Photo from New Flyer website. |
Transit staff are recommending the city purchase a dozen hybrid buses this year including seven 60-foot articulated vehicles that will be used on the Beeline express route between McMaster University and Eastgate Square.
The hybrids are part of a recommendation to replace 34 HSR buses in 2006 and 2007. Most of the new buses will be the standard 40-foot diesels that the city has been purchasing recently. The purchase won't increase the HSR fleet of 204 buses, but the 60-foot vehicles will expand passenger capacity.
"The need to address the requirement for service expansion is achieved through increasing system capacity," says the report, "with the added benefit of not being required to add to the overall numbers of the fleet or bus operators." HSR is currently short of drivers and is struggling to replace those who are retiring.
The hybrids cost about 40% more than the standard diesels, but offer fuel savings and reduced maintenance costs. They are also expected to last longer and should mean reduced air pollution, and a quieter, smoother ride for passengers.
Buying the more expensive hybrids will add $4.6 million to this year's transit spending - money that staff are recommending come from federal gas tax money and development charges. A $10 million transit contribution this year from the federal government has now been confirmed and a similar amount is anticipated next year.
The staff report suggests fuel use will be $5-10,000 less per year for each of the hybrids noting that "the higher capital [purchase] costs may be fully offset by lower operating costs over the life of the vehicle." Rising fuel prices are imposing increased operating costs on the HSR and DARTS.
Hybrid buses have been on the market for nearly a decade but now seem to be gaining in popularity across North America. BC Transit introduced the first Canadian ones just over a year ago, and Toronto began receiving the first of an order of 150 in April.
The experience in New York City suggests hybrids are here to stay. A January 2006 US energy department report on their performance found "the hybrid buses' average fuel economy was 45% higher than the diesel baseline buses". New York has 325 hybrids on the road and recently ordered 500 more.
The supplier for all the new Hamilton buses - hybrids and standard diesels - is Winnipeg-based New Flyer - the largest manufacturer of transit buses on the continent.
Their website says the hybrids greatly reduce air pollution. "Independent testing has shown reductions in particulate matter, CO2 and NOx emissions of up to 90%." That's disputed by a 2005 paper by the Union of Concerned Scientists which says emission comparisons are still uncertain.
Their paper cites one study where there was no difference between hybrids and standard diesels, and other research that has shown "lower emissions of nitrogen oxide and other smog-forming emissions". They note that California has decided to credit hybrid diesel buses with 25% reductions of nitrous oxides.
HSR staff call the proposed purchase a "one-time pilot" that will also them to evaluate hybrids. If the experience is positive, more hybrids could be acquired in the next round of bus purchases scheduled for 2008. They warn, however, that current city funding for the HSR won't cover the higher costs. "Alternate funding in the form of Provincial or Federal Gas Tax or higher contribution to reserve, would be required at that time to continue with the purchase of this type of fleet."
The staff report recommending the hybrids is at http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/1ADB15F3-0DC3-4083
-B5FE-7D9489292E3A/0/Jul12PW06092.pdf.
Details about the buses are available on New Flyer's website at http://www.newflyer.com/index/hybrid_buses_intro.
The US energy department study is at http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/38843.pdf,
while the Union of Concerned Scientists' evaluation can be found at http://www.hybridcenter.org/hybrid-transit-buses.html.
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