SAN FRANCISCO—Infrastructure and transportation have been known issues for the otherwise booming city of San Francisco—amplifying the housing crisis here for some time now. But in September, we wrote that the City made one big step forward, with a historic investment in public transportation, with the largest light-rail vehicle contract in history ($648 million). Now, the city has purchased 61 new hybrid Muni buses to further advance the City's goal of being the greenest transit operator in the nation.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee recently revealed that San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will purchase the hybrid diesel buses after receiving unanimous approval by the Board of Supervisors on legislation led by Supervisor Malia Cohen. As part of the SFMTA's five year plan to replace the entire bus fleet, the procurement of 61 low-floor biodiesel-electric hybrid buses will improve transit service, improve the overall customer experience, and bring clean, new vehicles that use state-of-the-art hybrid and biofuel technologies to make Muni's fleet, already one of the greenest in the nation, even cleaner.
“San Francisco is replacing its fleet, so we can bring our transportation system into the 21st Century and give riders the transportation experience they deserve,” says Mayor Lee. “This investment is a giant leap forward in making sure our fleet is clean, green and helps improve transit times.”
According to Cohen, “The SFMTA's fleet of diesel buses will reach or exceed its life expectancy in the next six years, but already San Francisco's commuting public is experiencing the fallout from Muni's unreliable fleet. The purchase of these hybrid buses will decrease fuel consumption of buses and keep San Francisco residents healthier by reducing excessive emissions.”

The new buses, which will be purchased from New Flyer Industries, will use less fuel and have lower emissions. The announcement adds to the 112 hybrid Muni buses purchased in 2013.

The $68-million purchase contract is funded through Federal Transit Administration grants, AB644 bridge toll, Prop K funds and other sources. The Board's approval comes with a purchase option of up to 424 additional green buses. The contract spans the next six years, and is poised to make San Francisco one of the most environmentally friendly transit operations in the nation.

“Modernizing our transit fleet is at the core of Muni Forward,” says SFMTA director of transportation Ed Reiskin. “Replacing old vehicles with these state of the art buses will augment existing efforts like 'Red-Carpet Lanes' and transit signal priority. This purchase is an all-encompassing investment, by the SFMTA, that will help shorten trips while increasing service reliability.”

Updating the transit fleet and making important safety and accessibility projects across San Francisco, combined with WalkFirst projects, will help SFMTA better serve families, seniors, and the disabled, and improve comfort and safety for all customers.

In a recent RealShare Bay Area conference, the topic of infrastructure and transit took center state. Panelist Mary Erchul, president of the American Council of Engineering Cos. of California, said that infrastructure is one of the biggest things facing California today. “We are looking at things like water shortage and funding in general for transportation,” she said. “We have a lack of funding.”

To help the situation, she explained, “we have to look at innovation and better ways to do what we are doing and wrapped into that is streamlining.” The outlook as far as traffic is, she said, is to “work together in our industry to come to more technical solutions.”

Erchul talked about BART looking at the efficiency and sustainability of the BART cars, as an example of taking steps forward. “They can't go to infinity with the system they have.” Or the Oakland connector to the airport, for example, which is in its testing phase. “Transportation will keep up with the pace—it is only a matter of time… It has to.”

“The future of transportation is key to getting people to want to live in the Bay Area,” she said. As for the funding shortage, Erchul pointed out that “we have to looking at different ways of financing,” and “use the resources we have in California in the engineering arena and work together with public and private as far as partnership to get things moving forward.”