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The Dispatch wrote
COTA seeks $5.7 million grant for 6 extra-long hybrid buses
Friday, August 1, 2008
BY TIM DOULIN
Super-long, environmentally friendly buses powered by a combination of electricity and diesel are in the Central Ohio Transit Authority’s future. COTA is seeking $5.7 million through a federal grant to purchase six articulated hybrid buses.
Each bus is 62 feet long, bends in the middle and holds about 100 riders. It runs on electric batteries and switches over to a diesel engine. The buses don’t idle, Lhota said. Idling is a major source of pollution and fuel waste.
“Generally, particularly in congested Downtown areas, you are running on battery power, so you are not using the diesel engine as much as you would on a diesel bus,” he said.
The authority’s biggest buses are 40 feet long, the maximum allowed on Columbus streets. COTA is working with Columbus officials to change the city code to allow the longer buses.
I thought the part about Cleveland’s new buses was particularly interesting:
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has purchased 21 articulated hybrid buses that will start running in late October.
Instead of curbside pickup like a regular bus, the articulated buses in Cleveland will pick up riders at “stations” on median strips about every 1,500 feet.
I heard that one of our awesome folks with the city got the jump on this already and started working on the city code so that it would be ready before the new busses arrive. :D Speedy!
Bring em on! I hope we’re able to get these.
Not all of Cleveland’s stops are in the median, only in downtown and mid-town. Once the Health Line gets out to University Circle and East Cleveland, it runs in curb-side mixed traffic lanes.
I wonder if COTA will opt to go with the doors on the right and left sides. I think that’s standard on this New Flyer design. Could median stations be coming to a street near you? Broad, I’m looking in your direction.
I fully endorse this product and or service
COTA Flash Mob
It would be funny if 300 people showed up on the corner of Buttles and High to catch the 2 on any given sunday.
It would be funny if 300 people showed up on the corner of Buttles and High to catch the 2 on any given sunday.
It’d be even funnier when 250 of them were still standing on the corner of Buttles and High after the bus left.
Median stations on Broad through downtown would probably work very well. I guess a study would be done to see how worthwhile they would be, but to me it always seems like there’s more traffic in the curbside lanes with people turning right, where most of the left turns aren’t allowed during the daytime hours.
I think if we diverted our transit study budget into actual transit, we’d have a subway with stops at each of our houses by now.
I think if we diverted our transit study budget into actual transit, we’d have a subway with stops at each of our houses by now.
That scenario sounds incredibly inefficient. On with the studies and planning! :D
Horray! I saw some articulated Busses in Eugene, Oregon. Which is is a city of some 150,000 people. They also had a BRT segregated lane going from downtown to the University of Oregon.
I fully endorse MORE COTA BUSES DURING RUSH HOUR. And these.
FYI, If you liked Eugene’s bus, you’ll like Cleveland’s. The two transit agencies worked together with New Flyer to design this new bus, which has since become a production vehicle. Cleveland’s Health Line buses (and possibly COTA’s) are exactly the same as Eugene’s EmX buses, but with a different paint job.
I fully endorse MORE COTA BUSES DURING RUSH HOUR. And these.
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I’d like to nominate John Ross to the COTA Board if he can make late-night service happen, at least on weekends. There was no reason I should have had to drive to German Village tonight, but coming home at 11pm is unacceptable according to my
parentsCOTA.And if I’m elected student council president, I’ll get better food in the cafeteria.
I fully endorse MORE COTA BUSES DURING RUSH HOUR. And these.
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Great. Issue I volume 1: Horse Sense = understanding the rules posted in the front of the COTA bus. That will be $100. Thank you.
And if I’m elected student council president, I’ll get better food in the cafeteria.
Vote for me and you´ll get a sprawl tax to fund COTA.
Vote for me and you´ll get a sprawl tax to fund COTA.
Sounds like the “pay as we grow” program, except that doesn’t fund COTA.
RTA Cleveland has an articulated bus on display at the fair right now. They have a big display about the BRT on Euclid they just completed. I walked through it. Sweet!
They also have free Ohio rail maps, bicycling maps and other stuff from ODOT. Check it outl.
As of the now buzz is that articulated hybrid buses will not have left loading doors. This can allow for an additional 8 or so seats, if I recall correctly. Also the one in the picture in front of COTA’s building (and on display at the fair) has a low floor. COTA would opt for a higher floor model because the current plan would be to implement them on overcrowded locals (1,2,10) to relieve overcrowding without adding additional service hours.
Coupled with that would be an effort improve air quality. The bus in the picture as well as any future articulated buses that COTA wants to purchase would be hybrid electric-diesel buses.
How is the decision about the floor height of the bus related to the number of service hours required?