Eco-bus update

I ended my last post with disappointment as I was thrilled to hear of new technologies in electric buses, but was discovering that in ten years there didn't seem to be any new developments. I was wrong however. Once again, I've looked to the New York Times and this article, written in October of this year, explains that fleets of electric buses have in fact been showing up across the country over the past ten years.

"Transit systems from New York to Taipei, and from Ames, Iowa, to Ann Arbor, Mich., are adding hybrid buses at a rapid clip," the article explains. "New York, by far, has the nation’s biggest fleet of hybrid buses, which run on electricity and diesel fuel, with nearly 1,000 in all five boroughs, most in Manhattan."

One of the main problems with the buses mentioned in the previous article was their cost, at $1 million, it seemed impossibly expensive for cities across the country to replace their public transportation system with these new vehicles. The latest Times article says "the price has dropped by half, although hybrid buses are still twice as expensive as conventional diesel buses."

Still, the savings in fuel costs that these buses bring to city budgets (50,000 gallons of diesel fuel saved for a 45 percent improvement on fuel economy) may make them a worthwhile investment.

Check out the article and consider the possibility of these buses appearing on the streets of Pittsburgh in the future.