Title: FTA R&D ON ALTERNATIVE TRANSIT FUELS OVERSHADOWED BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRAM FOR CLEAN VEHICLES
Abstract: Efforts to find the optimum alternative fuel for public transit is moving on two separate and unequal tracks. Tests by transit agencies of clean and some half-dozen potential alternatives, which the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has funded since 1988, proceed on one track. On the alternate track, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Programs Administration (ARPA) has awarded $23.3 million to six regional coalitions for a two-year effort to develop technology and infrastructure for electric and electric-hybrid vehicles on military bases and in nearby communities. That program will be discussed in an accompanying story. This article looks at the various programs funded by FTA. Under the Alternative Fuel Initiative (AFI) program, applications by 61 transit agencies were approved to test the air quality impact of some alternative fuels or the filtering efficacy of particulate traps for diesel engines. Some $200 million a year went to these agencies for buying alternatively fueled buses and fueling facilities. Revenue-service demonstrations of more than 200 of these vehicles are in various stages of completion. With funds authorized by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the FTA is also funding R&D to examine new technologies for advanced transportation systems, specifically to foster development of the electrical-vehicle industry. To carry out the provision authorizing support for the advanced transportation systems, FTA has chosen four regional alliances, public/private partnerships in which industries such aerospace and defense are heavily represented.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
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