New York City makes largest hybrid bus buy

Calling it the largest order for hybrid buses in history, DaimlerChrysler said Tuesday it is selling 500 diesel-electric buses to New York City’s transport services, with deliveries to begin next year.

DaimlerChrysler said that compared to standard diesel buses, the hybrids will “provide significantly better fuel economy while greatly reducing emissions.”

Reductions include 90 percent less particulate matter; 40 percent less nitrogen oxide, which helps create smog; and 30 percent less carbon dioxide, a gas that many scientists tie to global warming.

“Drivers will enjoy faster acceleration and customers will experience a quieter, smoother ride free of the frequent transmission shifts encountered in conventional buses,” DaimlerChrysler added in the statement announcing the deal.

New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority will get 284 Orion VII buses, and New York City Transit has ordered 216. The company declined to disclose the value of the deal.

The latest order is the third for DaimlerChrysler from New York, with a total of 325 hybrid buses previously ordered.

“This order further underlines our ongoing commitment not only to the markets but to the environment, through our investments in alternate drive technologies and products,” said DaimlerChrysler board member Andreas Renschler.

DaimlerChrysler’s Orion division also has several hundred more hybrid buses on order for transit systems in Toronto and San Francisco.

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