MTA Urged to Convert 324 Buses to Diesel Fuel

After trying to do the environmentally right thing--and failing miserably--the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took steps Wednesday to convert 324 problem-plagued ethanol and methanol buses to run on dirtier diesel fuel.

Over the objections of air quality officials, environmentalists and some bus rider advocates, a key MTA committee voted 4 to 1 to end a disastrous experiment that has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and has left bus riders standing on street corners waiting for buses that never came.

The 40-foot ethanol and methanol Edsels broke down so often that 127 of the coaches have been taken out of service and stored in a Long Beach bus yard, even as the MTA struggles to meet a court order to reduce crowding on its bus system. An additional 25 of the buses are out of service undergoing repairs.

MTA’s experiences with the clean fuel buses recently reached comic proportions when the agency converted the coaches twice--from methanol to ethanol and back to methanol. Now, the agency plans to spend about $2 million more to convert the 127 nonworking buses to diesel immediately; the remaining ethanol and methanol buses will be converted to diesel once their warranties expire and their engines die.

The agency’s dire financial problems, which recently forced a halt to subway extensions and a light rail project, loomed large as members of the MTA board’s Operations Committee chose the least costly option to convert the alcohol-fueled buses to diesel.

But the South Coast Air Quality Management District served notice that the agency objected to the decision to back away from clean fuel technology in the nation’s smoggiest region. “Any alternative fuel, including alcohols and natural gas, is preferable to diesel from both the standpoint of air quality and health implications,” said AQMD’s assistant executive officer Chung S. Liu.

The AQMD’s comments were echoed by representatives from the Coalition for Clean Air and the Bus Riders Union, who urged the board to choose compressed natural gas buses rather than revert to sooty diesel. “It seems the way the MTA moves forward is to go back,” said Martin Hernandez of the bus riders group.

The move also drew fire from Richard B. Vind, chairman of Regent International, which supplies ethanol fuel to MTA. He blamed troubles with the buses on defects in the bus engines rather than the fuel.

The charge was strenuously denied by Mark Bennett of Detroit Diesel Corp., who blamed the troubles on the alcohol fuels.

While expressing concern about the move to diesel, most committee members said they felt the MTA had little choice. “We need to get them out on the street serving passengers,” said MTA board member John Fasana.

The atmosphere of Wednesday’s meeting was far from the enthusiasm that greeted the 1989 arrival of the low-polluting methanol buses.

The committee recommendation still must go to the full MTA board next week.

MTA officials say the diesel buses meet 1992 emission standards and pollute less than older diesel buses. They noted that converting the buses to low-polluting compressed natural gas is too costly, adding more than $32 million to the conversion process.

The agency has already ordered 223 new compressed natural gas buses and plans to seek bids this spring for 215 more in an effort to meet requirements of the federal court order on overcrowding.

MTA officials acknowledge that the bus experiment has been nothing short of a disaster.

The MTA spent about $11 million more a year repairing the ethanol and methanol buses than it spends on maintaining diesel buses. The agency also spent about $4.5 million in 1996 to buy new and rebuilt engines. The methanol buses required engine overhauls every 45,000 miles, on average. The ethanol buses were on the road only 20,000 miles between engine failures.

The MTA thus has found itself like every car owner whose wheels are always in the shop: It tried to find a buyer for the problem buses but couldn’t. The MTA owns more methanol-powered buses than all of the public transit agencies in the nation--combined.