Pictured above: A parade of 'go green' branded hybrid buses in Cincinnati, Ohio, (top) and a hybrid bus on display in Ann Arbour, Michigan. Below: Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of APTA, the Washington-based American Public Transportation Association
“We want to be good stewards of the tax dollars and we want to be good stewards of the community and the environment that we operate in … and so having these green fleets meets that mission” • “It’s very, very exciting,” says Melaniphy. “It’s far ahead of the automotive cycle, but that’s what’s so great about this industry - we have fleets of large vehicles that come home every night, great incubator places to mature the technology.” “The technology used to be huge and then it became smaller and smaller. You look at earlier hybrid drive systems and they were gigantic. They evolved so that you can put it into a small vehicle, like a passenger car. “It started in big buses and then it worked its way down. We’ve been able to help be that incubator and I think that’s an important role that public transportation plays.” Already at over 40%, Melaniphy expects the proportion of the US transit bus fleet powered by
alternative fuels to continue to grow significantly. And he hopes that having proved themselves in the bus sector, these technologies will proliferate in the automobile sector too. “Who’d have thought you’d see the day where there’d be a plug-in Porsche, right? And how cool is that?” he says. “I don’t see any reason for it not to continue.” The abundance of natural gas in North America has meant that gas-powered vehicles have become increasingly attractive. Melaniphy uses the city of Dallas, Texas, to illustrate this point. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) was an early adopter of liquified natural gas-fuelled vehicles. But the technology did not advance sufficiently as a transit fuel. So that fleet, along with the fleet fuelled by diesel, was replaced at the end of their service lives by compressed natural gas (CNG). Across the state, Houston’s transit agency, METRO, uses a mixture of hybrid and diesel buses. About 40% of the buses use hybrid technology. But the agency is now moving towards replacing buses in its fleet with CNG vehicles. The first 50 CNG buses are expected to hit the streets later this year. But gas isn't everyone's first choice. Many other bus operators are sticking with hybrid technology. “I expect there to be growth,” he says. “It’s green, it’s good for communities, the vehicles are quieter – the hybrids are much, much quieter.” In fact, the hybrid vehicles are so quiet that some of Melaniphy’s APTA members are rethinking how buses should interact with the communities they serve. “When you had big, loud, old diesel buses, people heard them, they saw them,” he explains. “Now that they glide by very quietly in this quiet electric mode, we have to make sure we’re doing things that alert pedestrians and those around us that we’re there, that we’re making right hand turns in crowded downtown areas and
things like that.” The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in Ohio is leading the way here. It has done a lot of testing on audible and light technologies to provide alerts. Going forward, Melaniphy sees a role for both natural gas and hybrid technologies. He points out that one operator, Washington’s Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, commonly referred to as Metro, is finding room for both technologies in its 1,500-strong fleet. Its new vehicle orders are divided equally between CNG and hybrid. The explanation offered to him for this unique decision was: “If there’s a problem in my fleet, I never lose all my fleet. I only lose half my fleet.” Often, the choice comes down to infrastructure. In some places, natural gas is very accessible and very inexpensive, in other places it is not. “It’s really a policy decision from the board directors of these [transit] agencies,” says Melaniphy. “They want to pursue one path or another path and it’s more driven by what they want within their community.” Whichever choice they make, Melaniphy views alternative fuels technology in the context of a green, socially responsible sector. This is about more than just the vehicles. “It’s important to our credentials and of course it goes beyond that,” he says, “We’ve got a lot of bus garages now that have green roofs on them, recycling the wash-water, and walls that are made of hay bales - all these different technologies. “It’s really important to us because we’re all about helping people and their communities grow. You give people the opportunity to move around and be part of their community by riding public transit. We want to be good stewards of the tax dollars and we want to be good stewards of the community and the environment that we operate in … and so having these green fleets meets that mission. “It’s a walk the walk thing.” Q
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 7
PT_BAESysSupp_Melaniphy.indd 7
23/01/2015 11:50