All aboard the green machine
Julie Fortier
Ottawa mulls hybrid busses for 2007
The City claims that taking the bus is a "greener" way to travel, something hard to believe when watching OC Transpo vehicles belch exhaust onto Ottawa streets, so there's a plan to clear the air. City council has approved the testing of new technology this winter in hopes of getting hybrid buses on Ottawa streets by 2007. "They are the way of the future-they are the way of the present, actually," said Councillor Clive Doucet. "The bottom line is that we have to do this. We spent $700 million this year on fuel (for OC Transpo services) and that was with a reduced fleet," he said. He was talking about the 46 bus lines that were cut or reduced in last year's budget.
With demands for increased service combined with oil costs of more than $50 U.S. a barrel, Doucet said, "These costs are just going to get worse. The sooner we get these buses, the better."
According to Ron Gillespie, the City's director of fleet services, a trial by the National Research Council this winter will look at different types of bus technology to figure out what works best in Ottawa conditions. City Council will decide whether to buy it.
Although electric-diesel hybrid buses cost 50 per cent more than the regular diesel kind, Gillespie said some costs would be covered by subsidies from the federal green municipal investment fund, plus the buses would save on maintenance and fuel.
Officials estimate hybrid buses would reduce consumption of fossil fuel by about 25 per cent and carbon dioxide emissions by about 38
per cent. When and if all Ottawa buses are converted, the City boasts it will cut 35,000 tonnes of pollution per year. However, David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000, a lobby group for improved transportation in Canada, questioned whether this is the right technology for the City.
Hybrid buses work on a combination of battery and diesel power. The diesel part of the engine does not slow down when the bus stops at a red light or a bus stop. Instead, the diesel engine diverts its energy into charging the battery, and battery power pulls the bus away from a stop. This idea is to prevent those ugly clouds of black smoke that regular buses make when they take off.
"So hybrids spread the emissions around more evenly. This supposedly makes them more efficient. The stop-start aspect relies on the battery," Jeanes said.
"But when you look at the Ottawa Transitway, no other city really has a system set up like that where buses are running at 80 kilometres per hour. At that speed, diesel runs quite well. With hybrid technology at high speeds, the diesel engine is running anyway."
He said the studies Ottawa is basing assumptions on are from New York City, which already has several hybrid buses in operation. Although hybrid buses can save on fuel and emissions when running in inner city stop-and-go traffic like New York's, they don't save as much fuel on high speed roads like the Transitway in Ottawa.
Jeanes also said there should be more public consultation and explanation of the costs and benefits of a hybrid fleet. He said last March the Toronto transit commission looked into purchasing hybrid buses to comply with Premier Dalton McGuinty's announcement that starting in 2006, at least 66 per cent of its bus purchases would have to be hybrid or alternatively powered. However, after looking into the actual cost of 330 hybrids, Toronto opted for a mixed fleet. Jim Lee, chief of project procurement for the TTC, was unable to say if Toronto would buy any hybrid buses this year.
Jeanes did stress that as long as these buses are run on selected inner city routes, this technology is a step in the right direction and other Canadian cities are jumping on the bandwagon. British Columbia has bought hybrids from New Flyer, a Winnipeg company owned by General Motors and plans to have them in operation next spring. Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Hamilton have also expressed interest in hybrid buses for their public transportation fleets.
Feedback: letters@ottawaxpress.ca
| Green transportation is the future! |
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The future is with greener alternatives to travel! To look at this at a macro point of view people must understand that our planet only has finite resources and we as a people are exhausting them at an alarming rate. We are also very vulnerably to the instability in energy prices. Just look at how fuel prices are ravaging across the world. Not to mention me when I am filling up my parent's car with gas that is costing 80 cents a liter! Now how does greener alternatives to travel make any sense? In a micro point of view looking at how a healthy city is dependent on people getting to work and one of the most cost effective ways of doing that is transit through buses and trains. This is good for the economy as people get to work on time and not stuck in traffic jams where you have this dead time waiting around and doing nothing that does not contribute to the economy. In an environmentally point of view if we adopt greener technologies we will less reliant and susceptibly to the energy market. Their are so many alternatives that we can use to accomplish this as the article mentioned: hybrids ( gas/battery power source, electric vehicles(solar powered perhaps, or hydrogen powered. In my view in makes the most sense with hybrids since we have the infrastructure in place to support this type of technology, but we are taking it as far as we can. For, instance the city can use bio diesel derived from the old cooking oils of the restaurants, cafes, hamburger joints, and so, which just throw them out! If the city establishes a program of taking that used oils and converting them into bio diesel they can use that for the bus transportation system! Heck the U.S Army is studying to do this in Iraq with their used cooking oils, but they are not interested in the environment per say, but having fuel for the vehicles for missions. Green is the future. My future and yours!
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Shawn De-Silva
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{13 votes}
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| Hybrid Buses: The Right Fit For Ottawa?......... |
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Understanding that there are new technologies available for our smoke-belching, environmentally repulsive buses is an important discussion to undertake for Ottawa. We shoulde explore options that help us breathe a little easier. David Jeanes, president of Transport 2000 asks a valid question: "Is this the right technology for Ottawa?"
As a taxpayer, this is an important consideration. If our Transitway, allowing buses in Ottawa to hum along at 80kms/hr means that they are running as efficiently as designed, then maybe this is not a smart approach for bus redesign/remarketing and retrofitting. However, if there are other options to the hybrid approach, then let's find the more appropriate direction that our bus fleet needs to head. Maybe, as others have suggested a East/West corridor for the Ottawa Train system.
"$700 million in 2005 on fuel (for OC Transpo services) with a reduced fleet" is a lot of money to spend on this one item.
It's good to hear that City Council are looking at ways of cutting these costs.
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Steve Landry
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{5 votes}
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| In addition, there are many little things people can do to reduce pollution levels in our city. |
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It is a great idea to make busses more efficient, more pollution friendly, thanks in part to new environmental regulations in our city!
But, I think that there are many little things a lot of more people could do to improve our quality of like by reducing pollution levels. This little thing could make a huge difference in our future. In a city like Ottawa, and for those who do not want to take the bus, it is quite easy and enjoyable cycling or walking to go to work, which is healthier for both the environment and yourself.
Cars could either be used for long distances trips or in a car pool system, but not on an every day basis!
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Valerie Augier
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{6 votes}
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