Long Beach Transit Drives Hybrid Into Bus Technology

By Kurt A. Eichsteadt
Editorial Assistant

Long Beach Transit is putting its money where its mouth is with a $46 million commitment to cleaner air.

That’s the tab for hybrid buses Long Beach Transit is buying. The first hybrid coach went into service on June 3, 2005, and 60 of the 40-foot-long coaches now travel the streets of Long Beach. By the end of 2008, there will be 25 more, meaning approximately 30% of the bus fleet will hybrids.

The current hybrids are distinguished by the “ultra-capacity storage unit” on the roof, which replaces a conventional battery like the ones used in automobile hybrids.

The 25 new hybrids now on order will be a totally new design, according to Marcelle Epley, Long Beach Transit marketing manager.

“They look like the Passports, but will be larger, rounded, more futuristic and have a new color scheme,” she said. “For us, the savings focuses on reducing air pollution, and realizing a long-term reduction in maintenance. Being a heavy duty operation in the way we carry large loads of customers and make frequent stops, we have yet to realize the full benefits of miles per gallon.”

A hybrid powered vehicle alternates between a conventional engine and an electrical one powered by batteries. It automatically switches back and forth and can turn off the conventional motor, so often the vehicle is exceptionally quiet. When the conventional engine is on, it charges the battery used by the electric engine.

Long Beach Transit was already in the process of buying cleaner buses when in 2005, the South Coast Air Quality Management District put into effect regulations that imposed restrictions on emissions from buses. The hybrids now in use in Long Beach meet or exceed local, state and federal emissions requirements for the foreseeable future.

The emissions from the hybrids used in the city are the lowest of any heavy-duty bus available for purchase. They also are more efficient than liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles that were once thought to be clean successors to conventional diesel buses. Long Beach Transit does not operate either LNG or CNG vehicles.

The emissions of the engine being used are so low that the California Resources Board designated gasoline as an alternative fuel for these buses, which are manufactured by New Flyer Industries, a major supplier of buses to the United States and Canada.

The Long Beach Transit fleet currently numbers 229, including buses, the Passports, the 60-foot long articulated coaches and Dial-A-Lift. To control emissions, the Passports use a particulate trap, which is like a lint container on a dryer. It traps all particulate matter that would normally go into the air and that matter is removed during maintenance.

By the way, there’s no extra charge for riding on the hybrids.