Coast Mountain Bus Company 7244-7246

Coast Mountain Bus Company 7244–7246 were a set of three New Flyer Industries F40LF units built in 1996.

Unit(s)	Engine	Hybrid system	Seating	Destination sign
7244, 7246	Cummins ISB	GM-Allison EP40 System	38 – American Seating Model 6484	Luminator Super Matrix:MAX

History

See also: New Flyer F40LF: Phase 3
These buses were originally powered by hydrogen fuel cells as part of a joint partnership between BC Transit and Ballard Power Systems of Burnaby to develop and test zero-emissions vehicles. The project was part of a larger $8.6 million investment by the provincial government in 1996, of which $2.4 million went towards these three buses. This project also ran concurrently with a similar one with the Chicago Transit Authority, which also had three F40LF units. Data collected from the two programs were analyzed and used to refine and develop heavy-duty fuel cell production engines being developed by DBB Fuel Cell Engines, an alliance formed in 1997 between Ballard Power Systems, Daimler-Benz, and Ford to commercialize fuel cell systems developed by Ballard.

The project began in 1990 when the provincial government through BC Transit began assisting Ballard in developing this technology for transit applications. An agreement was reached on July 31, 1996, that laid out the groundwork and funding of the project.

The target delivery date for this series was April 1997 and with these buses, BC Transit became the first transit agency in Canada with revenue-service fuel cell-powered buses. This later changed to the end of June 1998.

The buses were powered by fuel cell engines that converted hydrogen to electrical energy, with the only by-product being pure water vapour. A full tank of hydrogen fuel cells was enough to allow a bus to travel 350–500 kilometres before refuelling. The hydrogen was stored in nine cylinders located on the roof of the bus. The tanks were the same used to store fuel for compressed natural gas buses.

All three units were based out of Port Coquitlam Transit Centre where a fueling station was installed. These units were on display outside Science World on October 23, 1998, and free rides were given. Port Coquitlam was chosen as it had the room to both maintain the three buses and to house the fueling station. The fuel source was created on-site with an electrolysis fueling station to generate hydrogen gas, with power to produce it funded by BC Hydro.

Due to the weight of the equipment on board, standees were not allowed and the capacity was limited to 40 seated passengers only. Unlike other buses in the fleet at the time, these were fitted with aluminum wheels instead of cast iron and were equipped with cell phones instead of radios.

Initially, the buses were limited to run on AM trips on the 158 and 159. They later saw service on other quieter routes such as the 712 and 722.

As the hydrogen fuel cell buses were only part of a two-year trial, these units were withdrawn from service and placed into storage after June 30, 2000. In total, the three buses each accumulated approximately 70,000 kilometres in mileage and carried over 100,000 passengers. TransLink and CMBC were interested in looking into funding sources for additional fuel cell bus projects but until such funding was available, it was determined that all three buses would be placed into storage or otherwise disposed of if funding was not materialized.

To celebrate the conclusion of the project, a decommissioning ceremony took place outside Science World on June 22, 2000.

Units 7244 and 7246 were pulled out of storage in September 2004 for inspection before being used for TransLink's Test of the Power of Tomorrow scientific research on alternative fuel energy. These two units were to be converted to diesel-electric hybrid as part of the project. However, between the conclusion of the original fuel cell project in 2000 and the withdrawal from storage, unit 7245 was returned to Ballard and its final disposition remains unknown. In January 2005, units 7244 and 7246 arrived in Houston, Texas for conversion work by Stewart and Stevenson to have their Ballard Power Systems Hydrogen Fuel Cell and associated equipment replaced with a Cummins ISB engine with GM-Allison E^P40 System. The buses were painted white and wrapped in a green and zebra pattern and labelled "GM Hybrid".

They were in revenue service until mid-2010 when they were placed into storage in the Crane facility near Braid Station. There was a very slim chance of returning to service. However, in early 2012, there was a possibility of the buses being reactivated, but the future of them remained uncertain. They were ultimately withdrawn from service completely and were decommissioned and stored at Oakridge Transit Centre until they were scrapped in December of that year.

These units formerly operated under BC Transit with Vancouver Regional Transit System with the same numbers until April 1999, when all Greater Vancouver operations split off into TransLink. With this change in operations, Coast Mountain Bus Company assumed the project responsibilities originally allocated to BC Transit.

Deployment

Originally while operating as hydrogen fuel cell buses, these buses were all based out of Port Coquitlam as it was the only depot capable of maintaining these buses. Following the conclusion of the trial and a brief period in storage, units 7244 and 7246 returned to service briefly again in Port Coquitlam as diesel-electric hybrids between 2005 and 2006. They were transferred to Burnaby and were primarily limited to running on afternoon trippers.

Details

Fleet number	Thumbnail	Paint	Date	VIN	License plate	Transit centre	Status/Disposal	Notes
7244			December 1996	2FYF2LJ15TU016949	0109 JD	Burnaby	Retired – June 2010	Refitted with a GM-Allison EP40 parallel hybrid system Featured in the 2008 Vancouver St. Patrick's Day Parade Displayed at Epic Expo 2009 in Vancouver Scrapped in December 2012
7245			December 1996	2FYF2LJ15TU016950	6765 CX	Port Coquitlam	Unknown	Returned to Ballard.
7246			December 1996	2FYF2LJ15TU016951	0110 JD	Burnaby	Retired – June 2010	Refitted with a GM-Allison EP40 parallel hybrid system. Scrapped in December 2012

References

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