Tim, you’re right to be skeptical about DART’s sudden about-face on the bus deal. To me it’s all about a win-win for Mayor Tom Terrific: If and when he does run for higher office, his green bona fides (as per this arrangement) will be beyond reproach; plus, it won’t hurt for Leppert to have ‘ol deep-pockets Boone in his corner. While I guess it makes sense to support compressed natural gas when the Barnett Shale’s in your backyard, should that be the deciding factor? Besides diesel’s advantage on bus cost, the executive director of the Maryland-based Diesel Technology Forum points out that there’s an “infinitesimal” difference between clean diesel and natural gas in terms of air pollution. Allen Schaeffer also notes the big-time “retrofitting” costs for natural-gas bus systems, and says that 80 percent of new-bus orders nationally are going the clean-diesel route. Then he adds this kicker: Transit decisions in favor of natural gas are inevitably “influenced by ‘deals’ arranged with the gas suppliers … when in many cases the economics are not favorable” for the natural-gas option. Could that have anything to do with DART’s new fuzzy math?
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If the Diesel Technology Forum says diesel is better it must be true. What do you reckon the Natural-gas Technology Forum says?
The last time natural gas was inexpensive Dallas County was talked into purchasing a natural gas cogenerator plant. This was in 1991-92 when prices for natural gas were very low. The idea was that the county could buy natural gas very cheap, generate electricity lower than TU Electric, sell the excess back to TU at a profit. The generator was built behind the county jail for 3 million dollars. No one ever expected prices to spike up. They did. County was stuck with an enormous mess. They could not give the turbine away.
Same thing will happen to DART. Watch.
On another transportation related topic, I’d be interested in your collective thoughts about the downtown “trolley” idea that’s been getting play in the papers.
While I can certainly see some value to having some sort of mass transit moving folks in and around downtown (and hopefully the surrounding areas), a trolley strikes me as a waste of money and limited surface space. Many moons ago, Dallas had a perfectly good approach to downtown transport — the Hop-a-Bus. I grant you that the vehicles themselves were a little silly, but they got the job done.
If Dallas wants to reinstitute downtown transport, I’m all for it — but it seems that some sort of bus is significantly cheaper and far more flexible than a “trolley.” Heck – we can buy vehicles that look like trolley cars if that’s what they’re shooting for.
The article also says that they DART will be purchasing hedges to protect against increasing prices.