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New buses operate cleaner
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September 25, 1996: 8:49 p.m. ET
Los Angeles plans to use prototype buses to cut down on pollution
From Correspondent Casey Wian
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LOS ANGELES (CNNfn) - Anyone who's lived in a big city knows what it's like to be stuck behind a bus spewing diesel fumes. That could soon be a thing of the past here and in other cities as transportation officials move to environmentally-friendly vehicles.
Buses have long been one of the biggest contributors to Los Angeles' notorious smog problem. City leaders are hoping new technology will provide a solution.
The city is looking at a new prototype powered by fuel-cell technology developed for NASA that converts hydrogen and air into electricity that in turn powers the buses.
The only by-products are steam and some water, which L.A.'s mayor and other officials drank following Wednesday's demonstration.
"Everyone wins from this type of an initiative. We'll get jobs, bus riders will have better service and our air will be cleaner," said Yvonne Brathwait Burke, Los Angeles County supervisor.
Southern California's air quality watchdog agency has provided $1 million to help British Columbia-based Ballard Power Systems develop the zero-emissions bus. Ballard in turn opened an office in California, where strict environmental laws are mandating the rapid introduction of zero-emission based vehicles.
"The potential market for this type of engine is beyond just buses. For buses specifically, North America is a reasonably small market since about 5,000 transit buses are sold each year. But in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world where public transportation or mass transit is much bigger, we'll see a much bigger market," said Firoz Rasul, president and CEO of Ballard Power Systems.
While the new buses provide great environmental benefits, there is one initial problem - the prototype costs five times more than a conventional bus. Ballard said the price will drop significantly when full production of the new buses starts in 1999.
Larry Zarian, chairman of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, acknowledges the benefits of the new buses do carry a higher cost, but he said the additional money is justified. (96K WAV) or (96K AIFF)
Already, Los Angeles is spending more than $200 million to replace many older diesel-powered buses with newer models that use cleaner-burning ethanol and natural gas.
Chicago and Vancouver have already committed to a trial run of the Ballard fuel cell buses. If the trials here go well, Southern California may be next.
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