From Tim Lane.

Fuel use of buses compared to the O-Train

This paper compares the relative fuel consumption of the O-Train and
two common types of bus in OC Transpo's fleet. Results are normalized
on a per passenger basis - i.e., how much fuel does it take to move a
passenger space (seated and standing) on the O-Train, versus on a bus.
The conclusion is that the O-Train uses between one half, and one third
the fuel, and therefore produces between one half, and one third the
emissions, that buses do, to carry the same number of passengers.

The following information on fuel consumption of buses comes from
Jean-Yves Carrier of OC Transpo, Friday, Oct 15, 2004.

He gave me several figures on bus fuel use which I used to do these calculations.

A sad statistic is that our newest buses get worse fuel mileage (kilometerage?)
than the older ones!

1.7 km/litre for 4000 series buses versus 2.0 km/l for 1977-1985 vintage buses.

This is due to the new buses having air conditioning, and retarded ignition timing to lower emissions. This, unfortunately, raises fuel consumption.

Using a 4000 series bus on route #18 as an example:

Route length about 28 or 29 Km., depending on variations (Cassels & Bradford, Croydon - Regina)
Time to go from one end to the other is about 1 hr. 20 min. in the peak period, reducing to about 1 hr. 6 min. in the eve.
So average speed in the peak is about 21 kph.
Divided by 1.7 km/litre equals about 12.3 litres per hour, or about 220 litres for a 4000 series bus per 18 hour day,
on a route like the #18.

A Talent O-Train has 137 seats, and standing room for 150 passengers, for a total passenger capacity of 287.

A 4000 series bus has 33 seats, and room for about 17 standees, for a total passenger capacity of about 50.

The O-Train carries about 5.75 times as many passengers as a 4000 series bus.

It uses about 650 litres of fuel per day, which works out to about 2.25 litres of fuel per passenger space, per day. (This information comes from Mario Peloquin, manager of Capital Railway, Wed., 13 Oct. 2004)

The bus uses about 220 litres of fuel per day, which works out to about 4.4 litres of fuel per passenger space, per day.

The O-Train is using about half the fuel that 4000 series buses use, on a route like the #18, to carry the same # of passenger spaces.

It follows that, given engines of similar design and meeting similar emissions standards in both newly purchased diesel buses and diesel light rail trains, the diesel light rail vehicle would emit half the pollution that buses would emit, to move the same number of people.

Concerns were raised by some that it was not appropriate to compare the O-Train's fuel consumption, and passenger capacity, to a smaller bus such as the 4000's on a slower route like the #18.

I have since done some calculations for the fuel use of the 6000 series 60 foot articulated buses on the #95 route, which uses long stretches of Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa River Parkway, Transitway, and Queensway where they can average a much higher speed than the #18.

The net result of this higher speed, of course, is more kilometres travelled per hour, and therefore, more fuel burned per hour, and per day.
The #95 route is about 40 km long from Fallowfield to Place d'Orleans. The bus is scheduled to take about 57 minutes to do the trip. This works out to an average speed of about (60/57 x 40) 42 km/hour.

6000 series buses get 1.2 km per litre of fuel. (Information on fuel consumption of buses comes from
Jean-Yves Carrier of OC Transpo, Friday, Oct. 15, 2004.)

In an hour, a 6000 on the #95 would use about (42/1.2) 35 litres of fuel. In an 18 hour day, that would equal about 630 litres of fuel.

I spoke with OC Transpo' information office, who told me that the 6000's have 54 seats, but they have no standard for the number of standees. If we allow for 36 standees, that makes 90 passengers, although reports of over 100 are common when people are really jammed on.
I checked the New Flyer website, and they state that the 6000 series articulated bus can be configured with up to 64 seats (ours have 54), but have no data on the # of standees.

I will use 90 passengers for these calculations, which means that the O-Train can carry (287/90) over three times as many passengers as a 6000 series 60 foot articulated bus.

Now, recalling the figures for the O-Train: It uses about 650 litres of fuel per day, which works out to about
(650/287) 2.25 litres of fuel per passenger space, per day.

The 6000 series bus uses about 630 litres of fuel per day, which works out to about (630/90) 7 litres of fuel per passenger space, per day.

This means that O-Train is using less than one third the fuel that the 6000 series bus on the #95 route uses to move the same number of passenger spaces.

It also means that, given engines of similar vintage and meeting similar emissions standards, the O-Train is producing less than one third the emissions of 6000 series articulated buses, on the #95 route, to move the same number of passenger spaces.

The O-Train covers 8 km in 12 minutes, for an average speed of (60/12 x 8) 40 kph.
The difference in speed between #95 and O-Train is negligible, and therefore their people moving capacity, in proportion to the size of the vehicle, per hour, is comparable.

My use of 4000's on the #18 route was a very generous comparison to the O-Train, which makes the buses look better than they actually are. (A ratio of half the fuel, O-Train versus 4000 on the #18, compared to
one third the fuel, O-Train versus 6000 on the #95.)

Since fuel consumption at OC Transpo is one of the largest expenses that the City of Ottawa faces, the above analysis has great implications for how we can, and should, redesign our transit system to be much more fuel efficient

Transport 2000 would be happy to discuss with the elected representatives, how we feel this redesign could be done, to obtain more transit at a lower cost.

Tim Lane,
Member, Transport 2000 Canada
October 26, 2004