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The transit authority votes Monday to buy diesel buses, ending its troubled relationship with a Chattanooga company.
By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2002
TAMPA -- The transit authority once thought electric buses were the cutting edge answer to pollution and congestion. But the new technology turned out to be the authority's bane when the buses arrived with problems the Chattanooga company never could fix.
On Monday, board members of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority voted to close that chapter by purchasing diesel buses instead. The decision came after the U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed that HARTline won't lose its $2.5-million grant, even if it abandons plans to buy electric buses.
The electric buses, really hybrids using power drawn from diesel and batteries, emitted up to 96 percent less pollution than regular diesel buses. But, in accordance with new federal guidelines, HARTline's new diesel buses won't belch quite as much pollution as the older models.
Monday's move by the board allows HARTline to cut ties with Advanced Vehicle Systems Inc., the troubled Chattanooga company that makes the electric buses.
"We finally had an amicable, or at least non-hostile parting of the ways," said Ed Crawford, HARTline's spokesman. "The last thing we were waiting on, was do we have send that money back."
Board members and HARTline officials had become increasingly disappointed in AVS. The original order was for 10 electric buses, but after the company shipped four to Tampa, HARTline canceled the rest.
The buses that arrived had numerous structural problems, most seriously in the front suspensions and steeling columns. Yet the hybrid technology worked fine. AVS tried to remedy the glitches, even sending a mechanic to work on-site in Tampa. HARTline officials said the buses' size and relatively clean emissions made them desireable for the area.
But officials despaired that the buses would ever operate adequately given the mileage and speeds they'd need to reach, as well as Tampa's harsh temperatures and rain. They were all eventually returned to AVS.
"The buses were really cool, pretty to look at and rode really nicely," Crawford said, "but in Chattanooga, they never took them out of downtown so they never went very far."
AVS unsuccessfully lobbied HARTline board members to stick with the contract. Monday's action enables the transit authority to replace its oldest buses with new ones that are 30-feet long and wide enough for wheelchairs to maneuver.
The market for hybrid electric buses is still in its infancy, and HARTline couldn't find another company to manufacture the buses to its specifications. Officials said they intend to buy the electric buses when they are more widely manufactured.
-- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at wexler@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.