OCTranspo and Green House Gases

I’ve been wondering how efficient and clean buses are. Those drivers are pretty clumsy and go full steam ahead even if there is a red light ahead. I wonder if the buses are naturally efficient and if that bad driving behavior makes much difference. I know with gasoline powered cars how hard you press the peddle can have a large impact on your mileage. I noticed this with my car and did some rough calculations and saw that I could save 20 percent by driving carefully.

So I went to their site to see if there are any claims about their efficiency and cleanliness. All I found was in the picture to the right. So I guess I need to contact them to find out. Here is the letter I sent them.

I am curious about the fuel efficiency and cleanliness of the buses.

Do you have that information for your buses? Do you have information on what make and models of buses you have so I can try and look that up?

Does OC Transpo make any measurements of efficiency and CO2 emissions?

I noticed drivers are very wasteful. For example, if they are leaving a stop and there is a red light ahead, it is not uncommon for them to pull away at full power and then slam the breaks on when they arrive at the light. Are there any programs or incentives to help drivers be efficient?

December 6th, 2011 Update: It seemed that my message to OC Transpo went unanswered but I eventually received this:

From: ocserve@octranspo.com
Sent: December 06, 2011 3:55 PM
To: AccessInfo
Subject: RE: fuel efficiency

REFERENCE 799481

Thank you Mr. Whyte for contacting Customer Relations.

We appreciate and value hearing from our customers. The delay in responding to you is regretted. We are currently experiencing a high volume of email correspondence and wish to thank you for your patience.

We have included the following links in reference to models of buses which make up our fleet as well as our  2010 Facts & Figures

www.octranspo1.com/about-octranspo/bus_fleet
www.octranspo1.com/about-octranspo/reports

Our operators are certainly trained on safe and efficient driving practices. Safety bulletins are also sent to our drivers on a regular basis reminding them of proper procedures when providing on-road services and operating a City vehicle. Mobile supervisors also monitor the operation of our buses to ensure an efficient and resourceful service.

In future, should you encounter any areas that require our attention, please forward the exact time, date, location and the 4-digit bus number. This information will allow us to initiate further investigation and follow proper corrective measures.

We trust this proves to be helpful.

Sincerely,

Linda
Customer Relations Officer
Transit Services, City of Ottawa

/ fr-10

April 10th, 2012 Update: They don’t have any sort of claim about the buses efficiency. Their “2010 Facts and Figures” says “The Transit Commission is responsible for ensuring the development of a safe, efficient, accessible and client-focused transit system and for providing overall guidance and direction to the Transit Services Department on all issues relating to the operation of public transit, including the O-Train and Para Transpo.” How can they be efficient if they don’t know how efficient they are? Or at least they’re not giving useful numbers to me. So it will not be easy to find out if  Mass Transit is cleaner than cars or not. Perhaps I will have to come up with another way of assessing it.

Also they are claiming the bus drivers are all up on efficient driving. This seems like nonsense if you’ve actually taken a bus.

The Globe and Mail just published this article about the same concern that I have (How Green is Mass Transit). Interestingly, there is a claim there that proper driving can increase the efficiency by 18.7 percent. According to the article Toronto has the same clumsy and inefficient driving in their bus system.

Perhaps the answer is to forget about OC Transpo giving facts about their buses but to find another city that discloses useful data or study more generally as a solution.

I’m not convinced yet that Mass Transit is green.

Update, April 24, 2012: Here’s another response:

From: ocserve@octranspo.com
Date: Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 3:33 PM

REFERENCE 8xxxxx

Thank you for your interest Mr. Whyte.

Your queries have been forwarded to appropriate staff at our Quality Transit Maintenance staff for further response. We will contact you again with further details once received.

Once again, we appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Linda
Customer Relations Officer
Transit Services, City of Ottawa

er-6 in-36

Tags: OC Transpo