Comment 114816

By Haveacow (registered) | Posted November 13, 2015 at 09:29:17

Actually this plan is quite doable. Its averaging 12 buses a year over and above fleet replacements. With a industry average of 3.3 drivers per bus that's 40 new drivers a year till 2024, over and above replacements. The real sticking point for me though is the natural gas buses.

Natural Gas Buses may be overall cheaper to run for some operations but it does cause some very interesting engine issues. We got rid of ours in Ottawa due to the efficiency loss in the fuel reaction in colder weather. The lower the temperature the lower the efficiency of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. On certain days in January and February efficiency can drop between 40-45% with standard Ottawa winter temperatures.

Considering the winter we had last year where it never went above -10 C for 14 weeks starting in mid January, OC Transpo was very glad to see it end. When Temperatures were consistently dropping to -45-50 C at night for a week at a time (without the wind-chill effect), it was not surprising to see frozen switches on the Trillium Line(O-Train) in the morning. Having Natural Gas buses functioning in that king of temperature would have made a difficult situation, far, far, worse.

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