Tulsa Transit to Debut New Hybrid Diesel-Electric Bus

Tulsa Transit will hold a brief news conference to debut its first hybrid bus on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 10 a.m. at Woodward Park, 21st & Peoria , east of the Rose Garden. Tulsa Transit will have on display the newest addition to its fleet: a bus powered by General Motors’ diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system.

Tulsa Transit General Manager Bill Cartwright said, "This new hybrid bus is a great addition to our fleet. It will serve as a reminder to all of us that we really do have clean air transportation alternatives available. This is important because Tulsa has serious air quality issues related to ozone levels".

Speakers at the media event will include Tulsa Transit General Manager Bill Cartwright, a representative from INCOG and a representative from General Motors.

Hybrid technology offers significantly better fuel economy than traditional buses and produces up to 60 percent fewer oxides of nitrogen emissions and 90 percent fewer particulate, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. Other benefits of the buses include reduced maintenance costs resulting from extended brake, engine oil and transmission oil life; superior torque, providing 50 percent faster acceleration compared with conventional diesel buses and operational sound levels approaching that of passenger cars.

“The General Motors hybrid diesel-electric drive system for buses uses the most efficient parallel hybrid architecture available in the world today,” said Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain. “If the U.S. had only 1,000 GM hybrid powered buses operating in major cities, the cumulative savings would be more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel annually.”