GM Delivers Hybrid Buses To San Joaquin County

Hybrid Buses Save Up To 60% On Fuel, Reduce Emissions By Up To 90%

STOCKTON, Calif.- San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) set a great environmental example this week by adding two hybrid buses to its mass transit fleet. San Joaquin County joins the growing ranks of communities investing in transit buses powered by General Motors' hybrid technology, which offers up to 60-percent-greater fuel economy and up to 90-percent-cleaner emissions.

San Joaquin RTD welcomed Sen. Michael Machado, Calif. State Senate, 5th District, as they announced the delivery in a press conference Friday at the San Joaquin Regional Transit District facility.

Sen. Machado, said, "The addition of hybrid buses to the San Joaquin RTD fleet is a significant step towards improving the quality of life for not only bus riders, but also for residents of those neighborhoods that include bus routes. Hybrid buses will help the local environment by reducing emissions and reducing noise pollution as well."

This is the first step in San Joaquin RTD's journey toward better, cleaner, more economical bus technology. These hybrid electric buses will be significantly cleaner than the conventional diesel buses they are replacing. The buses will display the slogan, "A Breath of Fresh Air."

"San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) has long been recognized in the community for its corporate responsibility to the environment," said Donna Kelsay, General Manager/CEO of San Joaquin RTD. "As the first transit agency in the nation to introduce the Gillig production hybrid vehicle with a clean-air NOx (nitrous oxide) reduction particulate trap, we are especially proud of these buses because we view the hybrid bus technology as a further opportunity to reduce emissions and improve air quality for the residents of San Joaquin County."

There are currently 335 GM-hybrid-equipped buses operating in North America. If America's nine largest cities were to replace its existing fleet of 13,000 transit buses with hybrid buses, the nation would save approximately 40 million gallons of fuel a year.

"GM's hybrid technology offers significantly improved fuel economy, along with reduced noise and emissions - qualities that are particularly important and beneficial in cities like Stockton," said Beth Lowery, GM vice president of Environment and Energy. "We applaud San Joaquin County for its efforts to protect the environment today, and to help preserve it for generations to come."

In addition to improved fuel economy and dramatically lower emissions, the GM hybrid system delivers superior torque, derived from the dual electric motors used to launch from a stop, and 50-percent-better acceleration than conventional diesel buses. Gillig Corp., of Hayward, Calif., manufactures the buses.

"This bus uses the most efficient hybrid architecture available in the world today, and is an important initiative in our three-prong hybrid technology approach that is designed to provide our customers fuel economy gains and reduced emissions in a wide variety of products," said Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain. "We have developed a second generation advanced hybrid system, based on this hybrid bus technology that will be applied to GM full-size sport utility vehicles and pickups during the next few years."