The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) serves as the County Transportation Commission and principal transit provider for Orange County. In 2006, OCTA entered into an agreement with New Flyer of America for the purchase of 299 urban transit buses fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG). This report documents the benefits associated with the purchase and placement into revenue service of the final increment of 40 CNG urban transit buses. This completes delivery of all 299 vehicles.
43000000.00
In 2006, OCTA entered into a purchase agreement with New Flyer of America for the purchase of 299 urban transit buses operating on compressed natrual gas. This project reflects the receipt of the final 40 vehicles included in the 299 vehicle purchase. The forty buses represented in this project are equipped with the Cummins ISL G 8.9 liter dedicated natural gas engine. This engine is certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) at the 2010 emissions standard of 0.2 grams of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) per brake-horsepower hour, and 0.01 grams of particulate matter (PM) per brake hp-hr. All 40 buses have been deployed into revenue service. The buses are assigned to the Santa Ana operating base and service all local and intra-county express bus routes operating from the Santa Ana base.
The purpose of this project was to purchase forty (40) urban transit buses. This purchase represents the final increment of an overall purchase of 299 new vehicles. OCTA purchased compressed natrual gas transit buses in lieu of diesel buses, resulting in significant reductions in exhaust air pollutants.
All 40 buses are currently operating in revenue service out of OCTA's Santa Ana operating base. In addition, hands-on traing is being provided to OCTA's Operations and Maintenance personnel in areas such as CNG fuel system, fire supression, methane detection, and vehicle electrical systems.
During initial deployment, issues were identified that required corrective action by the vehicle manufacturer. Most issues uncovered concerned bus systems not related to the compressed natural gas engine or fuel system. Examples include electrical system and suspension system issues that have been subsequently corrected by the bus manufacturer. One issue that did involve the engine and fuel system was the vehicle's acceleration. New Flyer is currently working on a software retrofit that minimizes auxiliary engine-loads during vehicle acceleration.