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Newest bus, the ECO Saver IV, gives you service with a smile

Original Source: http://www.nydailynews.com
Author: Pete Donohue
Original Publication Date: 29 June 2009

NYC Transit’s newest bus is not only environmentally friendly, it appears to be smiling.

The ECO Saver IV is a hybrid electric 42-footer that’s much quieter and has lower emissions than other buses, reducing both noise and air pollution.

The first thing straphangers will notice is the sleek, space-age design. The giant front windshield is curved upwards from the bottom, like a smile.

One transit executive scrutinizing the bus on display outside NYC Transit headquarters on lower Broadway yesterday dubbed it “the smiley bus.”

“It’s pretty cool,” agreed Trevor Logan, 29, a flight attendant from Westchester. A subway-and-bus buff, Logan snapped photographs of the DesignLine bus.

NYC Transit has purchased eight DesignLine buses and inked a contract with an option to order as many as 80.

Five will be on the street by the end of the year for a pilot program; the first will roll out August in Manhattan.

The bus has an electric motor powered by a battery pack charged by a turbine engine. Other buses roar, groan and rumble but the electric hybrid whirs in the background.

“It’s so quiet you don’t even know it’s running,” said Joseph Smith, NYC Transit’s bus chief.

This type of hybrid has far fewer engine parts than the standard diesel bus.

Parts that will never need repair or replacement include the transmission, alternator, starter and water pump.

“Most of the parts that go bad on a regular bus don’t exist on this bus,” said DesignLine vice president James Gaspard.

The ECOSaver IV can run on just battery power with zero emissions 20% of the time, NYC Transit’s director of new bus qualifications.

NYC Transit tested a smaller version briefly about two years ago, setting the stage for the 80-bus contract.

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