By Juan Montoya
The purchase of five electric hybrid diesel buses for the Brownsville Metro bus fleet at a cost of $3.5 million was heralded as Brownsville's entry into the brave new world of energy savings, and reducing transportation costs and emissions for a cleaner and greener community.
The City of Brownsville Commission on March 19, 2019, approve the purchase of the five buses at an average of $700,00 per unit from Gillig LLC.
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Unfortunately, no one told the low-paid maintenance workers or mechanics at BUS Metro that the new buses didn't use gasoline. So it was surprising when one of the buses (#237) started to cough and sputter when it was taken out on its test run by the drivers.
When it stopped, the brass discovered that it had been filled with gasoline instead of diesel.
Now, the BUS Metro honchos are hoping that someone (anyone) locally can salvage the high-tech system on the new bus so it won't be a total loss. Will they?
Diesel-electric hybrid buses use both electricity and diesel, the same concept as hybrid automobiles. Bus batteries store energy and recharge when the bus decelerates. When demand for power exceeds battery capacity, the diesel engine provides extra energy.
A computer controls the output of the two power sources, diesel and electricity, so the buses always use the most efficient source. But gasoline, unfortunately, is not part of the equation. To repair it, if it can be repaired, will probably take a small fortune.
The five buses were purchased under the Connecting Communities project under the Fiscal Year 2016 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program. The Connecting Communities project is comprised of three (3) projects, the hybrid buses being one of the three.
“Brownsville is leading the Rio Grande Valley,” said Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez said then, conveniently forgetting to mention that McAllen already has them. “These diesel hybrid buses will save energy and reduce costs and emissions for a cleaner and greener community.”
“Brownsville is leading the Rio Grande Valley,” said Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez said then, conveniently forgetting to mention that McAllen already has them. “These diesel hybrid buses will save energy and reduce costs and emissions for a cleaner and greener community.”
What was the difference between Brownsville and McAllen? Was it the managers at their bus system who made sure that everything was done the way it was supposed to be done? Or did they merely polish up their press releases for their resumes and leave the grease work to the poor slobs at the maintenance shop?
And will heads roll as a result?