Battery-electric articulated buses on the way for Metro

(King County photo)

With so many bus riders in West Seattle, this might be of interest if you didn’t catch it in regional coverage: Metro has up to 120 more battery-electric buses on the way. King County announced the purchase plan this past week. Highlights from the full announcement:

The initial agreement is to buy 40 battery-electric buses, to be delivered in 2021, and to order 80 more, from New Flyer of America, Inc. Those first 40 buses will be 60-foot articulated buses that cost $1.3 million each. The planned order after that, for delivery in 2022, will be for 20 more 60-foot articulated buses and 60 40-foot buses costing $925,000 each. At least $20 million of the cost will be covered by grant funding.

These buses, Metro says, meet the specifications King County laid out three years ago – able to travel about 140 miles on one charge. (The 11 battery-electric buses that Metro has now can only go 23 miles before they need a 10-minute charge.) The announcement also notes that Metro “initially pursued a different manufacturer for the purchase of 73 buses in 2017, however, that manufacturer does not currently have a 60-foot-long option.” If you’re wondering about charging capability, Metro is starting with a “temporary interim bus base” due to be complete this fall, with a charging system for 100 buses to be phased in starting next year; a permanent South Annex Base (in Tukwila) is in the works too. As for which routss will get those first new battery-electric buses next year – we asked; Metro says it hasn’t decided.

old timer February 2, 2020 (1:34 am)

I wonder how much these weigh; what toll they will take on our already damaged and under maintained roadways.

WSB February 2, 2020 (2:15 am)

The specs for these are linked in the story. 45,666 lbs. That is comparable to what I have found online so far re: current articulated hybrids, 44,600 lbs.
Tsurly February 2, 2020 (8:21 am)

Peanuts compared to all the cars carrying one person everyday.
- uncle loco February 2, 2020 (9:28 am)
  
  I’m not an engineer but you’d probably have to stack about 20 cars on top of each other to equal the concentrated loads of those buses.
  - KM February 2, 2020 (3:19 pm)
    
    Luckily, a bus takes more more than 20 SOVs off the road.
    - Bill February 5, 2020 (9:20 pm)
      
      Go ride the buses — try several routes – all times of day and night — you’ll find that the buses run a low average passenger mileage —
KM February 2, 2020 (9:35 am)

It’s one of the greenest options we currently have for motorized travel using existing infrastructure, and eases congestion, and you gotta point out an (already existing) issue? That’s one version of concern trolling. I’m excited to try one these busses!
- uncle loco February 2, 2020 (3:04 pm)
  
  I’m not against mass transit. Just trying to make sense of spending this kind of money on buses that exceed the weight limit of our existing (and crumbling) infrastructure. If I were to make that kind of decision in my job it could be a fatal mistake -both literally and financially. I’m not sure if you’ve been down Barton st or 26th ave recently but those streets are in bad shape.
- Bill February 5, 2020 (9:43 pm)
  
  Go check out the energy impact of the battery manufacturing and the energy and safety demands of the recycling of the extremely toxic materials in the batteries and the costs to replace when they can no longer hold a charge — by the way — let us know where these buses and BATTERIES are being, and have been, manufactured! — how much will Seattle City Light raise their prices to help cover the costs of the mega drain on the energy infrastructure it will take to charge these batteries — hundreds of mega kilowatts at a time — hundreds of buses all hooked up at the same time –! — then go figure out ALL of the COSTS of replacing the pavements on many miles of streets. A couple of years ago they replaced a lot of pavement on 26th SW between Roxbury and Barton — all the rest is now so bad that the buses are slowing way down and driving AROUND the failing areas – whole sections of pavement going catty-wampuss! Check out Barton between 35th and 26th — look closely — maybe get out and walk along the sidewalk and pay attention — then come back here and tell us WHY paved roads that lasted just fine from the 1950’s until about 8-10 years ago when they started running hundreds of galloping Gertie’s over them every day. — Gonna buy and run these HEAVY buses over the streets – why weren’t the streets upgraded first — start thinking people with something more than “gosh! that shure looks good” mentality and start demanding your gubmint officials start actually thinking and getting their horses back out in front of the carts!

Rich February 2, 2020 (7:11 am)

Who is throwing down the other 100 million?

JVP February 2, 2020 (9:51 am)

That’s the wrong question. The correct question is what is the total cost of operation over the life of the bus, including fuel/electricity, purchase price, and maintenance. I would guess that electrics cost less over the long haul, plus less noise and of course much lower CO2 and particulate emissions.Just the savings in brakes alone would be massive on these. Heavy duty diesel drive trains are wickedly expensive, and expensive to maintain. Over time there’s no question that electric will be a more cost effective solution. Cost of batteries is dropping steadily, and reliability of some is very good. The question is whether we’re there yet, and how to determine which manufacturers have durable systems. Even in diesel, some are very reliable, and some are nightmares.

AMD February 2, 2020 (9:20 am)

Has Metro said anything about continuing the use of trolleys past the current generation now that there are viable options for fully electric buses that don’t require the overhead lines?

Joan February 2, 2020 (9:31 am)

Great news for the air and all breathers! LOL. But the price! Yikes.

waikikigirl February 2, 2020 (11:14 am)

Remember when you’d put a nickel on your record player needle to stop it from skipping/repeating??? Someone please put a nickel on top of TSURLY’S head, please!

AJP February 2, 2020 (1:00 pm)

I don’t understand what your comment is about.
- waikikigirl February 2, 2020 (1:36 pm)
  
  TSURLY is constantly repeating himself on “if there weren’t all the cars on the roadways we wouldn’t have all these problems and how everyone should ride bikes… yes I understand vehicles cause a lot of problems to this world but we don’t have to be kept reminded of it by him/her…not all of us can ride bikes and or take public transit to where we need to go like he/she can. So that is what I was trying to say with my comment.
  - Tsurly February 3, 2020 (9:15 am)
    
    Constantly repeating myself in the same way that so many car drivers do on here about traffic, SDOT, bike lanes, parking, etc? Pot meet kettle.
Tsurly February 2, 2020 (1:13 pm)

I will glue a bunch to the top of my bike helmet so you can see them as I blow by you in traffic!

Jim P. February 2, 2020 (11:18 am)

Going to be amusing when they run out of charge along the way as the mileage is highly variable on this sort of thing. Can’t just siphon a few gallons of fuel into it in five minutes and get it back on the road. “Pardon me neighbor, can I plug my bus into your porch outlet?” Going to have to add in the expense of specialized service trucks that can make enough juice to charge one int he field enough to get it home or do a lot more towing..

AMD February 2, 2020 (3:15 pm)

They run 140 miles on one charge. You can drive to Olympia and back on that, with miles to spare. I don’t know what you mean by mileage being variable. Distances are fixed and metro will put buses on routes they can do on a single charge (with consideration given for re-routes). Just like they don’t create bus routes where a bus will run out of gas before it has time to refuel. Metro’s planners aren’t new at this, and I don’t know why you think they can’t figure out how to work with battery life limitations the same way they’re already working with fuel tank size limitations.
Michael February 2, 2020 (7:33 pm)

Haha, are you suggesting the benefit to an ICE bus is that they can siphon gas in traffic? “Pardon me neighbor can I siphon some diesel from your VW?”

Mj February 2, 2020 (4:09 pm)

Tsurly pavement design and deteriation is due to large trucks and busses not passenger cars!

Michael February 2, 2020 (7:35 pm)

Do we know how much the current 40’ and 60’ busses cost? Hard to reason about the costs of a transit system.

KBear February 2, 2020 (9:39 pm)

So the new buses weigh roughly the same as the old ones, yet people are falling over themselves trying to justify their single-occupant commutes by claiming that buses cause more pavement damage than cars? Can you fit 100 people in your car and take them downtown without polluting the air? Yeah, I thought not.

dsa February 2, 2020 (10:11 pm)

Without weight per axle and bridge max loading limits we do not have enough information. But I do remember the slippery council made an exception to the bridge loading limits so that the new (then new) garbage trucks could operate across the bridges. It only shortens the bridge life, no problem, we got lots of tax money for that in another pot.

Sue L. February 2, 2020 (10:18 pm)

I’m really happy to hear that a new batch of buses are on the way. I ride buses everywhere and I am so happy that I live in Seattle!

Mj February 2, 2020 (10:23 pm)

Kbear pavement damage yes air pollution no. Weight is the big issue with pavement deteriation!

waikikgirl February 3, 2020 (8:42 am)

MJ, we will never get anywhere with TSURLY, JORT or KBEAR they are right and we are wrong. Yes we all know gas powered vehicles cause pollution… they have been here since the Model T and I don’t see them going away, I see them getting better for the environment but as for those 3 we will always be wrong…I wonder how it feels to always be right? NO, I’d rather be “wrong” than to be in their shoes.
- Kia February 3, 2020 (12:13 pm)
  
  There’s a name for these types…
- KBear February 3, 2020 (1:28 pm)
  
  Waikikgirl, if you need to drive to get where you’re going, fine. I know the bus doesn’t work for everyone, and you don’t need to be “wrong” just to spite me. My only gripe here is that people are badmouthing these new buses with dubious claims of pavement damage. Mass transit benefits everyone, whether they use it or not, and buses do less damage to our environment and personal safety than the thousands of car trips they replace.
  - waikikigirl February 3, 2020 (3:42 pm)
    
    Kbear I did not bad mouth the buses new or old they are great, my comment was more to the point that every time there is a story of traffic, accidents, transit woes, … there’s a few of you and I won’t name names again that always blame the vehicles. ” if there wasn’t so many autos, if there wasn’t so many 1 person this and that” that’s what I was pointing out. We get your point, you don’t have to keep rubbing’ the dogs nose into is mess once suffices.
- Tsurly February 3, 2020 (8:06 pm)
  
  It’s like you cherrypick the bits of my posts that fit your narrative. As I’ve stated many times in the past, I own multiple vehicles, drive frequently (usually once per week) and gasp, sit in traffic. The difference is I don’t come on here and constantly complain about traffic, trying to pass the blame on to anyone/anything else other than me, the person sitting in traffic causing it.
  - KBear February 3, 2020 (9:26 pm)
    
    Hopefully the new buses will be able to handle snowflakes and other distractions.
KBear February 3, 2020 (9:11 am)

MJ, the roads are meant to be driven on. Including by buses. “Less pavement damage” is just about the lamest justification for cars vs. buses I’ve ever heard.

Sorry, comment time is over.