Roll em out.
Might add some supercaps for enhanced regenerative braking - not sure if they need it.
I would love it if all the buses that go up and down my road were hybrid - much less "local pollution", whatever abut GHG emissions.
It would be great if > 50% of all city bus replacements were hybrid - it would have a great effect on ground pollution levels building up over the next 10 years.
It would, in fact be great if all cars had at least stop/start technology for local and GHG pollution reasons - this is not a particularly expensive technology and so is practical, now.
I suppose the thing is to legislate for the desired effect and let the car companies figure out how to implement it.

What are they doing with a 6-litre diesel engine?

ENECO here in the UK have a fully functional series-hybrid bus that works fine with a 1.9 litre VW TDi unit. It recently did a 300 mile route at 20 mpg (not bad for a 10.5 tonne bus!).

Now if they were burning ultra low sulpher or biodiesel, the renewable cycle would improve greatly. But I gotta hand it to New York City - a capitalist mecca leading the world in hybrid public transit. Wonders never cease.

Progress. With a 30% improvement in mileage the mileage might get as high a 3.5 to 4 mpg for each bus.

To equal a SUV getting 19 mpg, carrying 2 passengers, the hybrid bus only needs a all-the-time load factor of 11 passengers or greater, persistently averaged on the bus to be as efficient as the gas guzzler SUV.

That figure is the "persistent" number of passengers needed to break even versus a guzzler SUV's mileage.

For example, at the far end of the route heading into the city, there are presumably zero passengers and the passenger count must build to a full bus of 22 or more as the buss proceeds on its route; so that on average you need that there always be an average of 11(or more), passengers onboard. Conversely, a bus leaving center city would presumably be fully loaded and debark passengers as it went on its route. It too needs to persistently average the same number of passengers to justify that it breaks even trying to save energy.

If we substitute a mid size car getting 25 mpg, instead of the SUV, then the load factor needs to be almost 15 "persistent" passengers.

Few bus routes except those commuter express buses loaded on drive-in lots in rush hours, meet this criteria. The average bus route has nowhere near this load factor, so they are more inefficient than a car; and may not be as efficient as a gas guzzling SUV.

Too Bad; but at least the hybrid bus has a chance of achieving the requisite load factor.

Regular buses with 2 mpg averages have almost no chance of actually being more efficient than the private auto. The problems are compounded by the need to provide service in off hours, so as not to strand passengers who cannot return from their previous bus provided destination.

We have all often seen buses operate off-hours, without a single paying passenger, merely on the off chance one may need the service. This off-hour service in practice, more than doubles the persistent load factor needed to break even during normal hours.

By comparison, few private auto trips are made for no purpose, or just to be "just cruising" (except for teenagers wandering about seeking to meet other teens on a Friday night.)

The rational thing to do would be to park those buses and conserve fuel by letting everyone drive private autos instead. Reality would say to park the "guzzler buses" and forget them; but as they are the Unthinking Man's Guide to conserving energy, we could never do that.

An Operations Research study always provides an answer and advises for a "Jitney" type service; but that is thwarted by the taxi companies and taxi drivers invested in another sub-optimal service, in the USA. Although Jitney services are frequently available elsewhere. Here in the USA, we only see it as a Jitney service to and from Airports or Sporting Events.

Stan,

You have obviously never been to New York City. In rush hour the buses are all packed to the gills, througout the entire route. Off hours I have almost never seen one with fewer then ten passengegrs anywhere.

Please go to New York and ride the buses, and think about replacing each one with 20-50 automobiles, and think about the impact on traffic -- and about finding parking for all of them. Then come back and post again.

It was just this type of goofy advice which led NYC to replace trains with vehicle lanes on many of its bridges -- resulting in a threefold drop in passenger crossings, and much longer travel times during rush hour!

[q->t to email]

and yes you ignorant biatches, low sulfur diesel is in full effect in b.c it still STINKS and i press the recirculate button EVERYTIME when i'm behind a diesel, to those that don't smell its already too late to save your lungs!!!

1. SUV getting 19mpg is highway driving, try 12mpg or less in the city and maybe 9mpg over a short trip. My neighbor had a Dodge pickup he drove in town and got 7-8mpg in the winter.
2. Hybrid busses can get up to 8-10mpg depending on the driving route.

@stan
i agree with your post, it's just too bad the Jitney service competes with the existing monopolies of bus and taxi. Actually it's the political systems that keeps Jitneys out but using small commuter cars would seem efficient.

Transport Fleet managers always come out with the big lie that 15 seater buses cost the same to operate as 65 seaters. Perhaps we should be challenging their Co2 gms/mile instead. We all know one thing, that you don't need 280Hp engines to charge batteries.
Also some urban routes average 5 to 7 miles per hour. Sure don't need 280Hp for that. Finally most of those hybrid buses in Ottawa, where its -10 degrees C at this time of year and even colder after dark, will be found parked at terminals with their engines running to keep their drivers cosy. A 5.9 litre Cummins diesel being used as a foot warmer. LOL
T2

Hey Jimmy
we both want reponsibility with the problem of diesel particulate in the environment we breathe. It appears that some interests are working against the public good. These Orion buses are still fielding an excuse to install a 280Hp 5.9 litre despite the substantial assist of an electric system. An earlier poster mentioned the British company that has installed a 1.8L diesel in the iconic London double decker and the full article may be somewhere on this site. TFL or Transport for London were a sponsor. We know it can be done.
I hope you don't hold this against me, for my technical knowledge, but in the early sixties I held a Public Service Vehicle License and as a transport worker worked from downtown to suburbia.

Many parts of a route averaged a good deal less than 5 mph. When congestion got very bad downtown, it was not uncommon for an inspector to transfer my passengers and turn my bus around to get me back on schedule. So the use of a 280Hp engine would be the least of my worries.

As an aside, I have heard of elderly passengers being seriously injured while still walking to their seat when the driver took off to join traffic. Consideration to the elderly, yes I know -the world as if people mattered, would have mandated electronic servo drives on public transport. These are the only powertrain that can consistently produce a perfect S-curve acceleration ramp able to whisk a vehicle up to speed without the hydraulic 'jerk' that can push an older person off their feet.

But to continue, the majority of Buses leave the Depot staggered around 6 a.m and begin returning around midnight. Their engines are run continuously. At each end of the route are ten minute rest periods, often they are forfeited due to traffic delays. Outside peak hours the driver may get to use the opportunity to stretch his legs and have a cigarette while standing near the radiator for warmth.It was common practice not to shut off the engine since these terminal points were usually in the newer remote housing areas with no convenient access to public phones in case of restarting issues. It's really easy to flood a warm engine ! And this was not in a subzero climate like Ottawa has for five months of the year.
And regarding Ottawa, I can assure you that those 202 Cummins diesels in those new hybrid OC Transpo buses will be running all day just like the non hybrid ones are doing right now. Someone want to call me on this ?
T2

The argument that public transit bus service is not as efficient as operating a personal vehicle is flawed for several reasons. In a location restricted in capacity for parking, add at least $1,000 per year to the cost of operating a personal vehicle for the required parking space, equivalent to the loss of a couple hundred gallons of fuel to create and maintain that parking space, added to the cost of constructing and maintaining additional traffic lanes. Several dozen of my daily passengers will be unable to utilize a private transportation system: 1] Blind; 2] Disabled; 3] Alcoholic; 4] Poor; 5] Foreign without driver's license; 6] Illegal alien; 6] Underage youth. While sympathy may not extend to all of these, public transit does provide access to work and community functions for a diverse group of human beings. Concerning idling, bus routes are designed with break time in order to allow for schedules to be met during times of peak service, heavy traffic, and poor weather conditions. Shutting-down can destroy turbos and may cause other mechanical damage. However, hybrids can be designed to charge battery packs during idling, downsizing engine size while not reducing torque. Every bus in the United States should be capable of 10 MPG of diesel in hybrid configuration. However, almost every private vehicle in the United States should be capable of 50 MPG gasoline with hybrid technology.