Multi-modal field trip highlights clean diesel fleets

 

Apr. 6, 2005 — Diesel emission reductions come many shapes and sizes and can work on multiple modes of transportation. That was the message March 21 during a multi-modal field trip.

More than 25 people attending the two-day West Coast Collaborative in Seattle traveled by Washington State Ferry to Bainbridge Island, then boarded a Kitsap Transit bus for the ride to the Bainbridge Island School District Transportation Department.

The ferry system, Kitsap Transit and the Bainbridge Island School Districts are all participants in the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s Diesel Solutions Program. Washington State Ferries has switched its fleet to low-sulfur diesel fuel and is testing ultra-low sulfur diesel and biodiesel. Transit is retrofitting older buses to reduce diesel emissions, requiring the equipment on new bus purchases and using ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.

Bainbridge Island’s entire school bus fleet was retrofitted, along with other diesel operated cars, trucks, mowers and tractors, as part of a goal to decrease the emission impacts of district vehicles. Diesel oxidation catalysts (which reduce fine particle pollution by 20 to 30%) were installed in 15 buses, and diesel particulate filters (which achieve 90% reductions in fine particles) were installed in the remaining 11 buses.

During the visit to the Bainbridge Island School District Transportation Department, Transportation Supervisor Glen Tyrrell showed visitors the equipment and demonstrated how clean the exhaust is with the white handkerchief test over the tailpipe. Field trip participants had the opportunity to ask lots of questions and share lots of ideas for continuing to reduce diesel emissions and their impacts on public health.

The West Coast Collaborative is a multi-state, public-private partnership to reduce diesel emissions from a variety of sources. Participants in the two-day Seattle meeting included representatives from air quality agencies in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia; the US EPA; organizations that have retrofitted their fleets and equipment; clean diesel distributors, retrofit equipment manufacturers, makers of other emission reduction products; and environmental and other interest groups to witness the power of partnerships.