AC TransitAlameda-Contra Costa Transit, Santa Clara VTA and SunLine Transit Agency operate fuel cell buses on regular service routes. Every day, the buses carry thousands of passengers and displace tons of CO2 that would be generated by a conventional diesel bus.
Bus demonstrations have unique attributes, including:
- High visibility—fuel cell buses operate in densely populated urban areas where thousands of people see the buses every day.
- Heavy-duty operating cycles—buses stop and go hundreds of times a day, placing maximum load on the fuel cells and batteries.
- Centralized fueling—one station can serve many buses, and provide fuel for passenger vehicles. Hydrogen stations that fuel buses provide infrastructure and data.
- Health benefits—fuel cell buses have no tailpipe pollution, providing significant health benefits to the most densely populated areas on the planet.
From 2005 through 2007, transit operators collected data from the buses to evaluate costs, fuel consumption, reliability, performance and customer acceptance. The first phase of the program, supported by the Federal Transit Authority, proved so successful that the three transit agencies have ordered a fleet of second-generation buses. The new buses cost half the price as the first-generation buses and the agencies predict even greater performance, reliability and fuel economy.
In the second phase of the program, which began in 2008, buses operate in the same 16-hour transit routine as conventional diesel buses, seven days a week.
The third phase of the program, which starts in 2010, will put 16 fuel cell buses in operation under the aforementioned transit routine and will include four additional transit agencies; Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SF MTA), San Mateo County Transit (SamTrans), and the City of Burbank.
