Grand Forks Transit Going Green

Come this summer you'll hear a lot less of this, and a lot more of this, Well nothing. Thanks to two hybrid city buses that will be rolling into Grand Forks at the end of January.

Melanie Parvey: "hybrid buses are a lot quieter and don't have heavy engine nose plus reduce a lot less emissions."

Dale Bergman: "I believe this is a new trend, as the technology costs go down we'll see it come more to Grand Forks."

The buses fall into the cities initiative to go green. City transit says its been a goal of the department, it's just now that it's become feasible.

Dale Bergman: "with the diesel vehicle going to hybrid its about a 17-thousand dollar difference now compared to a 330-thousand dollar difference 3-years ago.

The new hybrids will save the city a significant amount of money, the old gas buses get between 4-6 miles per gallon. The new Hybrids, 6-9, besides gas savings maintenance costs will be drastically cut.

Dale Bergman:The biggest thing we find out is the batteries drive the electric motor which moves the vehicle forward, when the coming to a stop it doesn't use the brakes."

That's because the electric motor helps slow the bus down.The city will study the new bus patterns and depending what they find more green buses could roll into Grand Forks."

Melanie Parvey: "we will learn a lot with the two vehicles our climate is so cold we really want to make sure they work when it 30-below."

Dale Bergman: "they'll be very quiet, and depending what we see with these two new buses later we could look into bio diesel buses."

The buses are scheduled to arrive July 26th.

Tags: steven bodakowski, grand forks, news, city, bus