Ottawa taking hit on hybrid buses, to remove hybrid components

(Before It's News)

OC Transpo, the public transportation commission for the City of Ottawa, says it spent $1 million more than expected on diesel fuel last year and another $7 million to replace defective, unwarranted batteries in its hybrid fleet of buses last year.  Transit Commission chair Diane Deans says that the city is going ahead with a pilot test to convert the hybrids to regular diesel buses.

“They’re running out of warranty and we know that the maintenance costs are going to be very high on these component parts,” Deans told local radio station CFRA. “The notion is to look at converting a handful of them to diesel engines, which would give us a new warranty and for a fraction of the price of replacing the buses.”

The city’s 2013 budget has a $550,000 earmark for the pilot project, which will see five buses converted to regular diesel operation as a test.  If the downgrade works and saves money versus liquidating the buses and buying replacements, the city will likely go ahead with the rest of the hybrid fleet.

While the knee-jerk here may be to blame the hybrids, it’s more likely that the purchasing process and use cycles are to blame.  The buses were purchased as part of a test project to raise the city’s fuel efficiency and lower emissions, but some say that the now-problematic hybrids were put into long-distance use cycles rather than short, in-city stop and go routes.  Thus lowering their efficiency (hybrids are best-suited for short stop-and-go routes) and increasing their likelihood of maintenance problems.  Further, the warranty included with the buses was short-lived and not very comprehensive, chosen to save up-front costs.

So while the buses may be a problem now, the crux of the issue may not be the hybrid powertrains, but instead the uninformed way they were implemented.

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