The City of Tempe is demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and alternative fuel with the purchase of 17 hybrid-electric buses.
The new 60-foot buses are gray with a light green front end, an updated version of the current color scheme, and will be used on routes with high traffic such as the ones on Rural and Baseline roads.
Once a bus is 12 years old or has traveled 500,000 miles, it has passed its useful lifespan, said City of Tempe community outreach spokeswoman Sue Taaffe. Many of the buses being replaced were older than that.
When the bus is accelerating from zero to 15 miles per hour, it uses stored electrical power.
“It doesn’t produce the heavy exhaust emission and the loud noise like a typical bus. It’s a lot quieter,” Taaffe said. “They’re not your typical gas buses.”
The buses also run on electric power while idling.
“This is Tempe’s ongoing commitment to have a sustainable transit system,” Taaffe said.
When the driver releases his foot from the accelerator, the electric engine operates in reverse to take pressure off the brakes. This increases the lifespan of the brakes from 75,000 to 250,000 miles.
The 17 buses will be fully deployed in the coming weeks.
Sustainability is important to a public transit system, said Leah White, a creative writing junior and weekly bus rider.
“Especially here, because we have to commute so much, everything is so far away,” she said. “It could probably be cheaper if it was more sustainable.”
Exploratory sophomore Junior Onyeali rides the light rail several times a week to get to campus, and said an affordable, sustainable transit system is important, especially for college students.
“A lot of times they don’t have cars and transportation is not that easy,” he said. “The bus is always cheap.”
Each 60-foot electric-hybrid bus cost $984,000. The buses were paid for by federal grants and Proposition 400, a half-cent sales tax for the development of public transit passed by voters in 2004.
Next, the City of Tempe plans to replace the Orbit neighborhood circulators, which run on gasoline. Before the implementation of the Orbit system, the City of Tempe’s bus fleet ran completely on alternative fuels, such as natural gas. Now the Orbit buses will run on alternative fuels, too.
Taaffe said the city plans to replace the Orbit buses within the next year to 18 months.
Reach the reporter at ryan.mccullough@asu.edu
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