Oahu's city bus fleet is about to get a little more green - a multimillion dollar federal grant will be used to purchase electric buses.
The buses will help the City & County of Honolulu cut back on some of the 6 million to 7 million gallons of fuel used every year, while serving as a test to see if investing in more electric buses will be worth it.
The electric revolution is coming to municipal transportation just as more drivers take to electric cars. A Federal Transit Administration grant is giving the city $5 million to buy electric powered buses.
"It has a very large range because it's generating its own electricity as opposed to other buses that have batteries that run out of charge after awhile so essentially we don't have to do anything throughout the day. it can run a full day service without any recharging," said Wayne Yoshioka of the City Department of Transportation.
The buses need a little fuel for the onboard turbine that provides the electricity.
"Our typical buses get about 3.2 miles per gallon, something in that range, with our hybrid buses we can get improvement typically about a 30% boost on that, we're looking for much more out of these buses," Yoshioka says.
Bus riders say they're eager to see the additions to the fleet
"The economy might be better too because we might not be using too much gas, and will not depend on the other countries for gas," says Ewa Beach resident Constantino Montero.
"Used to be the old buses you'd see emissions, a lot of smoke, now they're getting aware of how important it is for us," said Jorlene Saludo of Kunia.
The vehicles are likely to be first used as Waikiki cirulators
"Also it has the added benefit of being a very quiet bus, so again in Waikiki, especially when our buses pull up next to all the hotels, next to the condos, it's very quiet. I think that's an important thing," Yohsioka says.
The $5 million grant will buy eight vehicles. The city says it's the ideal way to test the new technology before spending local money.
"It's very important to get good gas mileage because a little bit makes a big difference for us," Yoshioka says."There are claims out there, we want to substantiate those claims and make sure that we can see our system, how it operates...we don't want to go out and buy a lot of these before we know all the benefits."
The grant was first announced last fall and the city began its due diligence to receive the funds. The buses will likely arrive between a year and a year and a half from now after an RFP is put out, bids are received and a vendor is chosen.
