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SamTrans > News Archive - 2003 > SamTrans Cuts Fuel Consumption and Helps Improve Air Quality
SamTrans Cuts Fuel Consumption and Helps Improve Air Quality
It took nearly three years and more than 643,000 bus parts, but the San Mateo County
Transit District's Maintenance Department was able to breath new life into 137
SamTrans buses while helping to improve air quality.
More than $11 million in grant money from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
helped fund the work, which will save SamTrans untold millions in new coach purchases.
The SamTrans maintenance team was charged with repowering 137 existing 1993 Gillig
buses. But in the end, Chief Executive Officer Mike Scanlon said, "This project
should have been called the 'remanufacturing' project because that's really what this
team did."
The purpose behind this monumental task was to significantly reduce fleet average
emissions while extending the life of the bus. It required replacing each of the 137
buses' engines and transmissions, re-wiring the entire bus and ultimately installing
4,700 replacement parts to bring the buses up to the MTC's new emissions standard for
diesel vehicles.
The result is a 25 percent reduction in fleet average emissions and a 40 percent
increase in fuel economy.
But the feat itself is nothing short of amazing.
"No other Bay Area transit agency has succeeded in completing this many buses.
Others tried but gave up after just a few dozen," said Chief Operating Officer Chuck
Harvey. "But when the SamTrans team thought they were pushing themselves as hard as
possible, they came up with a new approach to speed up the process." Harvey added,
"When we kicked off the repower project, we thought we were only going to be able to
do one or two a month. By the end we had reached six per month."
One of those new approaches included building a lift for installing some of the
project's heaviest pieces, promoting workplace safety and reducing downtime.
The opportunity to be creative and develop additional skills attracted many members
of the SamTrans maintenance crew to this project and kept them on it over the last
three years.
"Everyone enjoyed working on this project because we were constantly learning new
things and being challenged," said Gary Cox, repower lead mechanic.
On a project of this complexity it's critical to track each part, document the work
and then compile all of this new knowledge in a guidebook for the mechanics who will
inherit the rebuilt coaches.
"We wrote everything down as we did it, so that the running repair team has a
complete guidebook," said Greg Moyer, senior maintenance supervisor. "These are the
things that help keep costs and repairs down."
In an incredibly tight fiscal year, it was this kind of forward thinking coupled with
the group's incredible drive that can be credited with helping the district's bottom
line.
Typically, buses have a life of between 12 and 15 years. The 137 Gillig's were
purchased in the early 1990's meaning that SamTrans would have needed to begin
replacing these buses over the next 18 months as they passed out of service. The
repower project added another five years of service to these coaches.
In addition, the MTC awarded the district a $6 million grant for capitalized
maintenance for the next fiscal year because SamTrans had successfully completed the
repower.
"The benefit's of this project are a more reliable and fuel efficient fleet and a
more well-rounded work force. This project has really helped our mechanics increase
their pride and ownership," said Manager of Bus Maintenance Dave Olmeda.
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