Everett Transit introduced passengers to the city’s first hybrid diesel-electric bus during a brief trial run three years ago.
When driving away from bus stops and red lights, the hybrid produced none of the dark, smelly diesel smoke typical of a normal bus.
It ran quieter, smoother and was more fuel-efficient.
The problem was a cost-prohibitive price tag.
At $580,000 for a hybrid versus $290,000 for a conventional bus, the gap was too great for transit officials to justify buying one.
But more than $1 million in federal transportation money recently awarded to the city is expected to help add cleaner-burning hybrid buses to Everett Transit’s 46-bus fleet.
“We want to help people see a different vision for how transportation can work in downtown,” Everett Transit Director Tom Hingson said.
The move comes at a time when mass transit agencies are trying to reduce air pollution by replacing older fleets with low-emission vehicles.
Everett Transit is already buying ultra-low sulfur diesel buses, which pollute less then standard buses.
Regionally, King County Metro and Sound Transit became the earliest adopters of hybrid technology in 2004, with a joint order of 235 buses.
Everett Transit hopes to use a similar joint purchasing agreement with another transit agency to reduce administrative costs, Hingson said.
Everett Transit will use a combination of federal and local funds to buy three 35-foot hybrid buses, he said.
The hybrid buses could begin shuttling passengers through downtown by late 2008.
Hingson said the buses will likely run along a route that connects a planned shopping and residential district on the riverfront to a development of upscale condos and restaurants under construction at the Everett Marina.
Meanwhile, the city is studying the feasibility of running an electric streetcar line along a similar route. That study is expected to be unveiled later this summer.
Like the popular hybrid Toyota Prius and Honda Civic, hybrid buses use both electric motors and internal combustion engines for cleaner, more efficient propulsion.
Hingson said the hybrid buses are expected to get 4.7 miles per gallon, compared with 3.9 miles per gallon for a regular bus.
That’s a 20 percent fuel savings.
Other transit agencies that use hybrid buses, such as King County Metro Transit, have reported fuel savings of about 30 percent, said Scott Rutherford, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Washington.
Rutherford said hybrid buses have also been found to reduce emissions of fine particulate mater, associated with numerous health concerns, including cardiovascular and respiratory problems as well as premature death.
Some hybrid diesel-electric buses have cut air-polluting emissions by up to 90 percent, compared with older all-diesel buses, he said.
“Anything we can do to get rid of that is a big plus and hard to put a price on,” Rutherford said.
The professor, who specializes in transit planning, said he believes hybrid buses will become more commonplace in the next few decades before advances in hydrogen fuel cells push that technology to the forefront.
Hybrid buses have also been more mechanically reliable, experts say.
Metro Transit bought 214 hybrid buses in 2004, which is believed to be the world’s largest fleet of hybrid buses.
Jim Boon, manager of maintenance for King County Metro Transit, said the agency’s hybrid buses are the best performing vehicles in its 1,400 bus fleet.
Hybrid buses average 8,000 miles before breakdowns, compared with 4,000 for most buses, he said.
“We haven’t found anybody unhappy,” Boon said of transit agencies that have bought hybrid buses. “It’s been pretty much a love-fest coast-to-coast.”
King County is so happy with its initial investment, officials recently announced that they will spend up to $400 million buying 500 new hybrid buses in the coming years.
Not all are convinced that spending money on expensive hybrid buses is a cost-effective way to combat air pollution.
Todd Myers, director of the free market policy group, Center for Environmental Policy, said hybrid fleets are little more than a “public display” of a commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses – not actually a viable program.
“It’s very infrequent that these things pencil out,” he said. “Frankly, if they did in any dramatic way, everybody would be buying them.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
By the numbers
3: Number of hybrid buses that Everett Transit wants
46: Number of buses in Everett Transit’s fleet
200,000: Extra dollars expected to pay for a hybrid bus over the cost of a standard bus
$1 million: Amount spent by Everett Transit on fuel last year
3.9: Miles per gallon achieved by a standard diesel Everett Transit bus
4.7: Miles per gallon expected from a hybrid diesel-electric bus
2.2 million: Miles driven by Everett Transit last year
27: Percentage of fuel savings experienced by hybrid buses studied in King County
Source: Everett Transit and King County Metro Transit
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