Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Duh, New People's Republic of SF "Save the Environment" Buses Can't Climb Hills

New buses can't climb San Francisco hills.
San Francisco is on a bus-buying spree. In the name of shoring up service, Mayor Ed Lee has invested nearly $26 million in purchasing new Muni buses since last year.

There is, however, a wacko environmentalist caused glitch: Some of Muni’s newest "low energy" buses can't climb up San Francisco’s hills, reports  the San Francisco Examiner.

A longtime Muni operator, who did not want to be named to protect his job, said the new buses are a poor fit for the city.

“The [new trolley buses] have good straight line power, but have difficulty with grades,” the operator said. “This is troubling, especially because San Francisco’s fleet is called upon to climb the steepest terrain of any trolley-coach system in the world on a daily basis.”

Muni transit chief, John Haley said New Flyer warned the San Francisco agency that grades more than 10 percent would wear out the traction motors on the 60-foot buses.

The city will only be able to  run the buses on flat routes.

“That’s a reasonable decision,” said Peter Straus, a former SFMTA planner and now member of the San Francisco Transit Riders, an advocacy group.

“Not every bus needs to go everywhere and do everything,” he said.

The Examiner continues: To purchase more powerful buses, the SFMTA would’ve had to go through the process of ordering buses “all over again,” he said, a process that could take up to 10 years.

The buses were unveiled on Earth Day last year.


At the time on the unveiling SFMTA posted:
The introduction of the new low-floor biodiesel hybrid and electric trolley buses coincides with this year’s celebration of Earth Day. The new hybrids will run on B20: a blend of diesel and biodiesel, which is made from recycled oil and fat. The trolleys operate on 100 percent hydro-electric power....
In addition to being one of the most diverse transit fleets in the world, Muni is also the cleanest multimodal fleet in California.
The new buses will also make Muni more reliable...We want to make your green transportation options in SF the best transportation options. Thank you for helping us get there! 

  -RW

(ht Graham Dugas)

10 comments:

  1. Coming from the city who brought you low flow toilets......that screw up the sewer system that was not designed to operate on low flow toilets!

    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Low-flow-toilets-cause-a-stink-in-SF-2457645.php

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  2. Can't they just pass a law demanding that the buses make it up the hill? Laws fix everything, right?

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    1. When I told one of my liberal friends that 3 family members had their hours (and benefits) cut from full time to less than 30 hours a week because of the ACA (Obumercare) he said, "Congress could fix that."

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    2. And when that company stops making profits because of congress' fix and they have to move over seas, congress can fix that too. And then when that company goes out of business, and all the employees don't have jobs, well that's what welfare is for, duh. LOL

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  3. And just to know, this crap happens with stolen, fake 'money'.
    The crap these morons 'accomplish' is quite astonishing.

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  4. Its funny how Progressives claim to hate corporate welfare but nearly all of them can't see that the entire green energy industry can only survive if it receives massive amounts of corporate welfare. Someone made a nice chunk of change selling these morons buses without them even doing a proof of concept to see that they actually worked as intended.

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  5. Please, nobody tell them how destructive the hydroelectric power that powers the trolleys is to the streams and rivers where the dams are. They will likely riot.

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    1. Honestly, I don't think most would care. I find they are more against fossil fuel than they are for the environment (this just makes them feel good and helps them avoid tough arguments). I made this observation from discussing with many supposedly hardcore Greens the sheer ugliness of a landscape littered with solar panels or windmills and all of the dead birds around both. Always the answer is the same, that they see it as a necessary evil of what they actually think is "free" energy. I honestly believe that many of them think if they can get their state to go 100% to alternative energy, they will no longer need to pay for electricity for their homes or fuel for transportation. I just smh.

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  6. This is entirely the result of people in high places of power who cannot think in a straight line, longer than to just the end of their own nose!! They react on a strictly emotional basis, no facts or logic is allowed to enter the process at all. It makes them feel good inside, their ego or pride is all that matters when they succumb to political correctness pressures.

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