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The CTA introduced the newest additions to its fleet: 150 hybrid buses. The buses, "60-foot-long New Flyer articulated buses", have been slowly worked in since mid-October and will all be on the road by next summer. The buses are 30 percent more fuel efficient than buses in the current fleet and can hold up to 125 riders. What really impressed us, though was the mileage. While the current buses get a measly 2.4 mpg, these new buses upgrade to a whopping 3.6 mpg. Suck it, Al Gore!
And what of the cost to the city in this harsh economic climate (save Police SUVs)?
The new environmentally friendly buses cost about $1 million each.The buses can be charged by being plugged in to charge the batteries when the bus is not in use. Check out the CTA's press release goodness for moreThe CTA is able to afford the $156 million deal, despite tough economic times, by leasing the buses for 12 years, then taking ownership, CTA President Ron Huberman said.
The move is estimated to save the CTA almost $7 million annually in maintenance, labor and fuel costs by retiring aging buses.
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How does one vehicle carrying 125 people at 3.6 mpg compare to 125 vehicles carrying 1 person each at 25 mpg?
In answer to tecki, let's say both groups of people travel 100 miles in their respective manners. The group in the bus will use 27.8 gallons of fuel. The group in their individuals cars will collectively use 500 gallons of fuel, or four gallons each. Thus, the inefficient bus is far, far, far more efficient.
The bus wins by a lot. If the bus gets 3.6mpg, then as long as you have at least 7 people on that bus, the collective efficiency is better than having each passenger individually driving a 25mpg car.
My question is -- are these buses better than the crappy articulated buses that are now in use (e.g. on the Lakeshore Drive express routes) that suffer from roof leaks and excessive shaking/bouncing over bumps?
If you're talking fuel efficiency, the biggest, most achievable gains will be made among buses and other vehicles with terrible MPG. Yeah, 3.6MPG sucks compared to my Toyota, but I'll take a 50% gain gladly.
I've been on these a couple of times now on the 156 LaSalle route. They're much, much, much better in every way -- very quiet, relatively smooth ride by bus standards, and they've rearranged the seats so it seems a whole lot more spacious inside. My only qualm is that the new LED lighting is strange -- it's very bright but has an odd blue-ish tint. Overall, however, these are a big improvement. Two thumbs up.
sodium: I had the chance to meet with Huberman and this question came up, and he said that these were much better. If I remember correctly, the CTA is suing the manufacturer of those crappy buses. I hate how my teeth seem to chatter on those buses.
They ride much, much better than the NABI articulated buses we currently have. However, I have been on 3 buses (I suppose it could have been the same one over and over) where the back door had serious issues...sometimes it wouldn't recognize it needed to open, and other times it would continuously auto-open when no one was touching it, requiring the driver to manually do something or other to fix it.