$51.66/Mile to Operate Zero Emission Busses

A few years ago three transit agencies in California set out to evaluate hydrogen fuel cell busses. The results are in for Valley Transit Authority's trial and the fuel cell busses are surprisingly expensive. They've been costing the VTA $51.66 per mile to fuel, maintain and operate as opposed to $1.61 per mile for conventional diesel busses. ZEBs typically needed servicing after 1,100 miles, while diesel buses went about 6,000 miles between servicings. There's also a difference in purchase price: $2.5 million for the Zero Emission Busses versus $400,000 for diesel.

The California phase of the study is sponsored in part by the Department of Energy, and includes AC Transit, The VTA, and Coachella Valley's SunLine Transit Agency.

Image courtesy VTA

Chilean Commuters Sue Over Transit System

Local transit in the Chilean city of Santiago underwent a major overhaul in the past year. The 3,000 private bus companies that competed for passengers over the past 17 years have been consolidated into just 10 companies under the new transit system, Transantiago. The new system add hours to the average commute time and has cost thousands of people their jobs as a result of getting them to work late. President Michele Bachelet has issued a formal apology to the people of Santiago for the debacle of Transantiago. Kirsten Sehnbruch, a scholar at Berkeley's Center for Latin American Studies, explores the implications of Transantiago for Bachelet's presidency in a recent paper.

Bus Rapid Transit explained

The proposed East Bay Bus Rapid Transit program has attracted much comment in the local media, some of it ill-informed or hostile. (Why are so many people in "progressive" Berkeley scared of change and opposed to making life better for non-drivers?)

Wolf Homburger, a professor emeritus at ITS Berkeley, brings some measured judgment to this imbroglio, explaining how BRT works and what it entails for the region in Commentary: An Analysis of Bus Rapid Transit in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

(Image from AC Transit)

BART appoints first woman General Manager

At a special meeting on August 23 the BART Board of Directors appointed Dorothy Dugger as the District's eighth General Manager. Ms. Dugger, who has worked for BART since 1992, previously served as Deputy General Manager and is the first woman to lead BART in the District's 50 year history.

The terminal tower

A page in the San Francisco Chronicle website gives a preview of three proposed designs for a high-rise building on the proposed Transbay Terminal. Whichever of these plans is chosen will produce the tallest building on the West Coast. The Chronicle cautiously calls the competition "a gamble in city-making that could redefine San Francisco in the sky and on the ground."

Meanwhile, online prankster Jim Leftwich offers a bold vision of a redefined San Francisco.