BusTalk

R62CNG · Banned Joined: 14 Feb 2014 Posts: 186

There are rumors going around that #3800 to #3904 will be converted to clean diesel buses at sent to MTA bus Company in exchange for the 2009-2010 NG hybrids they currently have. Is that true? If it is, it would make a hell of a lot more sense than the first plan. And this trend would pick up right after #3783 too.

Q65A · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:20 pm Post subject:

Interesting if this is true.
NYCT has a total of nearly 1800 Orion VII OG and NG hybrids.
The fact that there are no HEV's in the recent Bus Pilot Program is a telltale sign that, at least at the DOB, hybrid technologies (as we have known them) may be history.
Early NYCT studies showed the main cost avoidance benefits of HEV's were derived primarily from reduced costs for foundation brake maintenance (thanks to the regenerative braking feature of the HEV's).
More recent DOB practice appears to place hybrids at those depots serving routes with particularly heavy stop & go operations, perhaps explaining why MV is an all-hybrid facility, while a depot such as CAS today has no HEV's.
Admittedly, EPA10 diesels are clean burners, thus anti-pollution benefits touted for HEV's are easier to match with new buses having diesel engines and electronically managed hydraulic transmissions (which also can be assigned really to any depot anywhere in NYCT or MTAB).

R62CNG · Banned Joined: 14 Feb 2014 Posts: 186

At first, the MTA said that they were still planning on buying hybrid buses, but in small numbers. Now that Orion is out of the picture, I guess that may of discouraged the MTA even more so to buy no farther buses using diesel-electric technology (coupled with the Designline mess a few years ago).

RailBus63 · Moderator Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 1063

The true sign will be what the MTA does when it comes time to start replacing the current hybrid buses. The authority has been under legal and community pressure due to reported higher levels of asthma and other respiratory illnesses in the neighborhoods around its depots in upper Manhattan. The hybrids have allowed the MTA to show that they are reacting to the community's concerns - it would not go over well politically if standard diesel buses were reintroduced to these depots in large numbers. I believe some sort of 'clean fuel' buses will be a part of the future MTA fleet for those depots.

Q65A · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:00 pm Post subject:

Good points, RB63; I had forgotten about the asthma problems in Upper Manhattan.

R62CNG · Banned Joined: 14 Feb 2014 Posts: 186

Well, this plan to repower the 2007-2008 Orion VII NG hybrids make a lot more sense. #3800-3904 would replace #4020-4039, #4140-4169, #4483-4512, and #4631-4655. Those will go to NYCT Depots and I'd guess that #3960-4064 would go to Manhattan next.

R62CNG · Banned Joined: 14 Feb 2014 Posts: 186