[tabi] electric buses for StarMetro
- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 09:43:11 -0400
TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
FSView
StarMetro unveils new electric buses, charging stations
The fleet of all-electric buses in Tallahassee is growing.
Now at five, StarMetro has the largest fleet of alternative-fueled
public transportation
in the U.S.
City and industry officials unveiled the newest in the fleet and three
Proterra FastFill
charging stations this morning at the C.K. Steele Plaza along with one
of the buses
after they rode, emission-free and nearly silently from City Hall to the
main station.
"As I stand here with such innovative technology over my head," said
Mayor John Marks
at the unveiling pointing to the charging system. "I'm reminded that we
are not only
leading the industry in Tallahassee, but across the state and frankly
across the
nation."
The electric buses, which cost $950,000 each, have the potential to save
the city
about $167,000 a year in fuel costs as opposed to the traditional diesel
fueled buses
costing around $450,000 each and an additional $50,000 annually in fuel
to run.
The electricity to recharge the buses will run about 14 cents per
kilowatt-hour,
for a total of around $7,500 in the same span, something City
Commissioner Gil Ziffer
said is important as the city tries to quench a budget deficit.
Those savings are "real money," Ziffer said. "Look, they're unbelievably
efficient
buses that are good for our environment and we've always been big into
that," noting
that the buses should be a welcome addition for the 28,000 customers in
the Leon,
Gadsden and Wakulla areas that utilize natural gas.
Ivan Maldonado, executive director of StarMetro said in an email that
while the cost
for an electric bus may seem high, as more clients, like Disney, look
into using
them, he expects the price to drop.
Maldonado said the traditional diesel buses get 3.79 mpg, while their
electric counterparts
get an estimated 22.5 mpg; the three charging stations cost $1 million
and will increase
the fuel economy of the system by 500- 640 percent, according to
Maldonado.
Cities like Los Angeles are in the process of procuring similar systems;
it just
signed an agreement to acquire 25 buses July 1. Still Tallahassee
remains an innovative
leader.
Michael Hennessy, Proterra regional sales director, said the buses, and
the overhead
charging stations would allow the buses to refuel while passengers were
loading and
unloading, improving route times and the number of stops the system can
make.
Proterra is South Carolina-based company that started its vision of
developing domestically
made, environmentally sound transportation systems in the 1990s in
Denver, where
the first set of buses similar to the ones in Tallahassee today still
run.
Commissioner Scott Maddox, a strong supporter of the public transit
system, said
while StarMetro was aiding the people who rode the buses over 73,000
times in 2012,
especially mothers and grandmothers in the community, the addition of
the eco-friendly
buses made him think about "taking care of the most important mother of
all, Mother
Nature...and not adding to our problem with fossil fuels."
The buses, which can be recharged in 10 minutes, are the result of a $5
million award
to StarMetro in 2010 from the Federal Transit Administration as part of
the Transit
Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction grant.
In 2012 the FTA increased the grant to $2 million, which StarMetro used
to purchase
two additional buses, to bring the number on the road to five.
Commissioner Andrew Gillum said StarMetro and the service has been a
priority of
the city as they work through a budget that has almost a $5 million
deficit, and
a possible $1 million gap in the StarMetro budget.
However in a June 19 city budget workshop Gillum said the holes in the
operating
system, and the subsequent fixes in route development of StarMetro, were
incremental
and were not enough to be considered a success story.
Tuesday, he said the addition of the new buses, in addition to being
eco-friendly,
would put additional sets of wheels into the public transport fleet to
better serve
commuters. "This is a step in the right direction to increase
circulation," Gillum
said. "They are fuel efficient and save us on the cost of operating the
system, but
this is another step that moves us forward toward a desirable and
effective bus system."
Gillum said with the funds for the five new buses coming from grants,
the opportunity
to use the money that the city didn't have to spend should be
capitalized on.
"They allow us to put the money we have to hiring more drivers for a
more efficient
service," Gillum said. "But we will have to get to the point to where
we'll have
to make some hard decisions about our routes and whether we're spending
the right
money on them."
The electric buses will begin running regularly in August.
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