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San Diego MTS Fleet Planning Huge Deployment Of Compressed Natural Gas

jgood6195

By jgood6195,
in Other Transit Systems

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DJ MC

DJ MC

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Last week, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System approved a plan to potentially purchase more than 500 buses that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) over the next five years. This deployment will almost entirely phase out the use of diesel among MTS' bus fleet.

 

"This is significant for MTS in many ways," said Paul Jablonski, MTS' CEO. "This puts us on pace to retire the last of our diesel buses from our urban fleet by the end of our contracts."

 

The MTS board has authorized the acquisition up to 350 40-foot, low-floor CNG buses from Gillig Corp. and up to 165 60-foot, low-floor, articulated CNG buses from New Flyer Industries Inc.

 

According to the MTS, the purchases would be executed through 2017. MTS will take delivery of 50 40-foot buses in 2013, and at least 50 additional buses will be ordered over the following four years, for a total of 250 40-foot buses. The contract also allows for an option to purchase an additional 100 buses over the life of the contract to accommodate potential needs due to increased ridership and/or service expansion.

 

The first 47 of the 60-foot articulated buses will be delivered by early 2014. These buses, along with 25 vehicles delivered in fiscal-year 2015, will be purchased via the San Diego Association of Governments with federal and TransNet funds. MTS will then take delivery on 13 New Flyer buses in FY 2016, which will be funded through the fleet's bus replacement capital improvement project. The contract also includes an option for up to 80 additional buses.

 

The total value of the contracts could exceed $343 million. MTS notes that at the end of the contract period, more than 95% of its buses will be running on CNG.

 

http://www.ngtnews.c...79#.UNCovG_hruc

 

This is going to be a big order for Gillig to fill for it's CNG option. Any thoughts on this order?

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Shortline Bus

Shortline Bus

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Well this is a huge deal for the 3rd largest mass transit system in the golden state. By end of this order almost the entire bus fleet will CNG as many of their buses are now (as of this writing)8-12 years old. Majority of the current San Diego MTS bus fleet came out between 1999-2004.

 

PS Topics merged here.

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DJ MC

DJ MC

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Well this is a huge deal for the 3rd largest mass transit system in the golden state. By end of this order almost the entire bus fleet will CNG as many of their buses are now (as of this writing)8-12 years old. Majority of the current San Diego MTS bus fleet came out between 1999-2004.

 

PS Topics merged here.

 

I am assuming the articulated New Flyers will most likely be XN60s, which are on order for a few TAs in California. They have some 1995 Gilligs I think still with the fleet from what I know of as well as a bunch of 2000-2001, 2005 built New Flyers on their roster. So yeah this order will replace every New Flyer bus built within those years.

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sdtransit

sdtransit

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MTS has been on the CNG path for a while, but one garage (the East County garage) doesn't have CNG fueling facilities. These will be replaced in 1-2 years as the garage is currently in final design for a new facility, including CNG fueling.

 

TOTAL FIXED ROUTE BUSES: 562

  • CNG-powered buses = 460
  • Gasoline Electric Hybrid = 12 (Super Loop Buses, 500 series)
  • Diesel Buses = 90 buses (77 East County and 13 D60LF Articulated)

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theaveragejoe

theaveragejoe

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I am assuming the articulated New Flyers will most likely be XN60s, which are on order for a few TAs in California. They have some 1995 Gilligs I think still with the fleet from what I know of as well as a bunch of 2000-2001, 2005 built New Flyers on their roster. So yeah this order will replace every New Flyer bus built within those years.

 

 

 

sounds like XN60's as the contract is worded here

 

http://www.sdmts.com/MTS/documents/2012-12-13BOARDPKG_000.pdf

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Turbo19

Turbo19

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Looks cheap compared to LBT's CNG Gilligs with the BRT front. Looks way better with the BRT front

 

Looks cheap compared to LBT's CNG Gilligs with the BRT front. Looks way better with the BRT front

 

Doesn't look that bad, as the tank and the colors offset that.

 

The Advantage's boxy look is popular from what I've seen recently.

 

Soometimes it's best to just go for something simple.

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DJ MC

DJ MC

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Soometimes it's best to just go for something simple.

 

 

Yeah that's true. The BRT is just a style package and nothing more and adds more money to the bus order. It's still the same bus no matter how you look at it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
RailBus63

RailBus63

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Looks cheap compared to LBT's CNG Gilligs with the BRT front. Looks way better with the BRT front

 

 

I have to disagree - I find the Gillig BRT package plastic-y and cheap-looking compared to the basic good looks of the standard Advantage/Low Floor design.

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DJ MC

DJ MC

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I have to disagree - I find the Gillig BRT package plastic-y and cheap-looking compared to the basic good looks of the standard Advantage/Low Floor design.

 

 

To be honest with you it would of been better off if Gillig designed a low floor version of the Phantom rather then a completely different bus. 28 years of experience with the Phantom was discontinued in 2008.

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DJ MC

DJ MC

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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – January 16, 2013:  (TSX:NFI; TSX:NFI.DB.U) New Flyer Industries Inc. (“New Flyer” or the “Company”), the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in the United States and Canada, announced today that the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System has awarded New Flyer a contract for up to 165 Xcelsior compressed natural gas (“CNG”) articulated 60-foot heavy-duty buses. 

The contract for 165 Xcelsior CNG buses (330 equivalent units or “EUs”) contains a firm order of 47 60-foot articulated buses (94 EUs) with options for up to an additional 118 60-foot buses (236 EUs).  

New Flyer has more CNG expertise than any other bus manufacturer in North America, experience that has been gained over the last 20 years from the production of over 4,700 CNG powered buses.  This bus order and future Xcelsior CNG procurements will build on San Diego’s already significant fleet of environmentally friendly buses, consisting of approximately 80% CNG buses.  The CNG system is designed specifically for New Flyer buses and to meet and exceed today’s CNG standards and safety requirements.    Additionally, designed for a 350-400 mile range, the New Flyer CNG design offers 20-year certified tanks and a fire suppression system that comes as standard features, and not as optional ‘extras’. 

 

Read more: Source

 

Well it's official.

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