Oct 13, 2007

Hydrogen shuttle arrives

Bus will start in East Palo Alto and be free for commuters

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

San Mateo County's first hydrogen-powered shuttle bus arrived this week and is set to begin service near the end of the month.

Officials with the City/County Association of Governments, which is leasing the vehicle, took the keys to the Ford E-450 shuttle bus Thursday afternoon after it was trucked in from Orlando.

The price tag for the bus raised a few eyebrows when the association approved the two-year lease in May. A grant from the California Air Resources Board will cover the $500,000 lease cost to Ford, and the county's Transportation Authority will split the estimated $250,000 in operational costs over that time.

Local officials said putting the hydrogen bus on the road is an exciting step toward a future of alternative fuel vehicles.

"You could operate a gasoline shuttle today a lot cheaper, but who knows what the price of gasoline could be 15 years from now or 20 years from now" said Supervisor Jerry Hill, who sits on the Air Resources Board. "They have to be tested, they have to be on the road in real-life situations or we'll never see them work in real life."

The City/County Association of Governments already runs a single commuter shuttle through East Palo Alto to the Palo Alto Caltrain station, but will add the hydrogen shuttle as a second vehicle on Oct. 29. A second gasoline shuttle will be ready to step in for the hydrogen shuttle if it is not quite ready or breaks down.

"With new technology you have to assume a certain amount of downtime," said Rich Napier, the association's executive director. He said the agency's board is "thrilled" with the project.

John Hoffman, a former San Carlos councilmember and current council candidate, isn't as impressed. He said Ford should be funding its own test vehicle.

"Instead they've convinced a government body to pay handsomely for doing their R&D (research & development) for them," he said.

Still, Napier said, "We will be more than happy to say, 'Yes, it is more expensive than what we would be able to do otherwise.' We think it's worth it. We're looking at it much more globally than that."

In the next few weeks, the agency will train drivers, sign insurance papers, slap new logos on the bus's side panels and inform East Palo Alto commuters that shuttles will now come on the half hour instead of hourly.

For commuters, riding the shuttle will be free and a somewhat cozy experience - it will only hold eight passengers at a time.

Officials had hoped it would accommodate up to 20, but the large hydrogen tanks take up nearly half of the vehicle, said Diana Shu, project manager. When space for a disabled passenger was added to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the number of seats was cut to eight.

The East Palo Alto route's proximity to the only hydrogen fueling station in the area was part of the reason it was chosen for testing. The shuttle will have to travel about 20 miles to Zanker Road and Highway 237 in San Jose to refuel at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's hydrogen fueling station.

The shuttle's range will be limited to 60 miles a day, so it will probably only do one route daily, either the morning or evening shift.

Eventually, the agency hopes to be able to refuel in San Carlos, which broke ground two years ago on a hydrogen fueling station but has not finished the project. That would allow a shuttle to serve a larger portion of the Peninsula, Napier said.



E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.