L.B.
Transit paves the way for hybrid buses
Jennifer
Camacho/On-line Forty-Niner
By
Sean Orfila
On-line Forty-Niner
Long
Beach's air quality may begin improving
next year after the arrival of 27 hybrid
busses to be used by Long Beach Transit.
Yet
the purchase by Long Beach Transit may only
scratch the surface of the county's 2010
Clean Air Act deadline. According to a Los
Angeles Times article, if the deadline is
not met, the county may face federal economic
sanctions resulting in the loss of billions
of dollars.
These
buses reduce emissions by operating on a
combination of unleaded gas and electricity.
The hybrid bus cuts down its gasoline diet
to about three and a half miles to the gallon
as opposed to the current busses that guzzle
about five and a half miles to the gallon,
said Jim Ditch, Long Beach Transit director
of facilities and maintenance.
Bus
riders will not notice any changes while
riding the bus other than being able to
breathe a bit easier. The buses operate
at the same speed and riders may not even
realize they are riding in a hybrid vehicle.
Long
Beach Transit Marketing Manager Rhea Mealey
said that the new buses are 95 percent cleaner
than normal diesel buses and that the Long
Beach Transit will "be ahead of the
game" in adjusting for the Environmental
Protection Agency's heightened standards
in 2007.
However,
the clean air doesn't come without a price-tag,
Ditch estimated each bus to cost $500,000,
slightly higher than the $435,000 for the
traditional bus, according to Long Beach
Transit's director of maintenance, Rolando
Cruz. The tradeoff, Ditch said, is buses
with "the lowest [gas mileage] on the
street."
Cruz,
said 27 buses are on order for early 2005.
Ditch said the new buses will arrive at
a rate of 20 a year for four years, older
buses will be phased out of the transit's
fleet of 220 gasoline buses.
Natural
gas fuel cells were an option for the company;
however, the costs of maintaining a natural
gas pumping station are still too high for
agencies such as Long Beach Transit to afford.
One problem, said Cruz, is the cost of setting
up pipelines and a pumping station for natural
gas. The company consulted outside firms
and weighted the costs extensively to decide
upon the hybrid bus, said Cruz.
The
hybrid buses are made by ISE Research, a
business firm based out of San Diego that
builds and researches alternative fuel based
buses and trucks. Hybrid cars have become
somewhat popular in the past year for their
miles per gallon and efficiency.
The
only emission coming from a hydrogen-powered
vehicle's tailpipe is water droplets. Honda's
Web site boasts its hydrogen-powered prototype,
the Honda FCX, on its front page. Yet there
is still much logistical work to be done
in fuel cell technology to make hydrogen-powered
cars available for the general public. Until
then, hydro-hopefuls will have to satisfy
their wants with the current hybrid technology.
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