MTA Plan to Buy Diesel Buses Draws Criticism

In an abrupt departure from its role as the operator of the nation’s largest fleet of cleaner natural gas-powered buses, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is contemplating the purchase of 370 new diesel buses, even though they produce more air pollution.

The possible move, to be considered by the MTA’s Operations Committee today, would come only weeks before the South Coast Air Quality Management District is to vote on adoption of a new regulation requiring that new transit buses run only on cleaner-burning fuels. Moreover, the state Air Resources Board determined two years ago that diesel soot can cause cancer.

The MTA staff’s recommendation to proceed with the purchase of the diesel buses is drawing loud protests from air quality officials, environmentalists and bus riders’ advocates, who fear that the agency is backing away from its long-standing commitment to buy only alternative-fuel buses.

Although the Houston metropolitan area displaced Los Angeles last year as the region with the nation’s worst air quality, Tim Carmichael, executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air, is adamant that now is not the time for the MTA to abandon its alternative-fuel policy and buy new diesel buses.

“To make a recommendation to purchase diesel buses is outrageous, especially at a time when so many public health agencies have identified diesel exhaust as a carcinogen,” Carmichael said. “A broad coalition of environmental, public health and community-based organizations representing communities all across Los Angeles County have made it very clear to the MTA staff and board that diesel is simply not an option.”

Even with newer engines and cleaner, low-sulfur diesel fuel that the MTA is testing, Carmichael said, diesel buses still produce more air pollution than buses that run on natural gas. MTA officials concur.

But they argue that new diesel buses are cheaper to buy and run. The agency estimates the cost of 370 new diesel buses at $103.6 million; $17.1 million less than the price for the same number of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas.

Because of higher fuel and maintenance costs, the agency predicts that buying and operating the natural-gas buses would cost 21% more than diesel over 12 years. The difference amounts to $5.6 million a year in an agency with a $2.5-billion budget.

Carmichael said he cannot understand why Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and his transportation advisor, Jaime de la Vega, another MTA board member, are pushing for the diesel purchase. “That is unconscionable coming from the mayor of the city and the region that has the worst air pollution, discounting the Houston anomaly,” Carmichael said.

De la Vega responded that “the mayor and I are looking at this as a broad policy issue, not as a narrow air quality issue. The recommendation . . . meets all current air quality standards and provides an opportunity for the MTA to reinvest the savings in more and better bus service for the transit-dependent.”

He said the MTA “is trying to be pragmatic and stretch taxpayer dollars.”

Tom Conner, the MTA’s executive director of transit operations, said the issue before the board is not black and white. “It is a tough call,” he said. “I feel bad about not continuing with natural gas.” But, he said the purchase of diesel buses “seems a reasonable thing to do.”

Although MTA officials do not like to discuss the issue, there is a lingering concern that the agency is becoming too dependent on natural gas buses in the event something goes wrong with the new technology. The MTA is on the verge of receiving its 1,000th natural gas-powered bus. Within two years, almost 70% of its active fleet will be running on natural gas.

But memories are still fresh of the agency’s disastrous experiment with its first alternative-fuel buses, which ran on methanol or ethanol and experienced numerous breakdowns and engine failures, disrupting bus service. The agency later converted the 333 alcohol-fueled buses to diesel engines.

Conner said the agency is concerned that in the event of an earthquake or other emergency, it might not be able to fuel the natural gas buses, which require specially designed facilities. He said natural gas service was out in parts of the city for days after the Northridge earthquake.

The MTA has also found that the natural gas buses are not practical on some long-distance routes because they require more frequent refueling, while diesel buses have longer range.

And Conner said the added complexity of natural gas engines, gas detection issues and higher operating temperatures pose additional risks.

“We still want to be a leader in alternative fuels, but not go to a 100% [compressed natural gas] fleet,” he said. Eventually, he said, the agency wants to be in a position to consider emerging technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells. “The dilemma is what to do in the interim until the first fuel cell buses are available.”

The MTA’s recommendation to proceed with the diesel purchase has angered the AQMD, which on June 16 will consider adoption of a rule requiring transit operators in the basin to buy only alternative-fuel buses.

Chung Liu, the AQMD’s deputy executive officer, said the MTA board is trying to squeeze in the purchase of diesel buses before the air quality agency has a chance to impose the new rule. “We don’t think it’s really a reasonable way of doing things,” he said. “They are going to set back our clean air effort.”

Liu said a recent AQMD study found that 70% of the cancer risk in the Los Angeles area from airborne toxic substances is related to diesel soot, which primarily comes from trucks.

Under the circumstances, he said, the MTA needs to keep its alternative-fuel policy, adopted in October 1993, in place. “They are pretty much on the right track so far. We would like to see them keep on the [natural gas] route,” he said.

So would the Bus Riders Union. Organizer Martin Hernandez said the group will fight the purchase of diesel buses, which he alleged would increase the incidence of cancer and asthma in low-income communities. Hernandez suggested that buying cheaper diesel buses that generate more pollution is another way for the MTA to find money to build more rail lines.