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NORTH AMERICAN MOTORCOACH TRAVEL: THE GREEN & SAFE ALTERNATIVE
Peter Pantuso, President and CEO of the American Bus Association (ABA)
The private motorcoach industry is the safest and most environmentally responsible transportation option in North America. Although our industry is one of the smallest among transportation providers, being that we consist of 3,600 small businesses representing a collection of 39,000 coach buses, our contributions in providing meaningful connections and essential services to our 631,000,000 riders annually is magnified. In spite of a tradition of historically providing safe and efficient transportation services, mitigating many of North America’s congestion problems near our urban centers, our story is only beginning to be told.
With environmental stewardship and the “green” movement emerging to the fore in recent years, the North American motorcoach industry is perfectly positioned to present itself as a viable transportation option. Motorcoaches use the least amount of energy when compared to other mass transportation modes, using only 749 BTU/passenger mile, which is nearly twice as efficient as a light rail, and more than 7 times as efficient as a single passenger car. Much of this efficiency is due to the emissions benefits realized by ultra low sulfur diesel fuel, as well as the improved technology in the new model 2007 engines, and our optimal passenger loads. All of these factors improve our operating efficiencies to an incredible 184 passenger miles per gallon, which is a 25% improvement over heavy rail such as Amtrak and an 80% improvement over domestic air travel and even city transit buses (which typically operate at low and inefficient speeds).
One of the most impactful “greenhouse gases” is CO2, and motorcoaches produce at least twice as few CO2 emissions as all other transportation modes. Nitrous Oxide is another impact greenhouse gas, and new motorcoaches have lower NOx emissions per passenger mile than all diesel vehicles. Motorcoaches also have the 2nd lowest emissions of particulate matter across all modes; however there are several non-standard technological improvements such as catalytic converters that can even further enhance the environmental performance of motorcoaches. With personal automobiles so prevalent in North America, with over 2 cars per household, if each person were to switch to motorcoach travel for the 12,500 miles that the average car travels annually, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 4.8 tons per car each year. Motorcoaches reduce congestion, overall carbon emissions, and fuel consumption.
In addition to having a significant impact on North American highways by reducing congestion and energy consumption, motorcoaches are also the safest mode of surface transportation. Although every accident is a significant event, garnering intense media scrutiny, the North American motorcoach industry has made tremendous strides to ensure that safety is our number one priority, a commitment to safety which these numbers reflect. Some of that success can be attributed to the training and maintenance regimens of individual companies, but credit must also be paid to the government agencies which provide enforcement oversight to our industry, namely the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the US as well as Transport Canada. In partnering with these federal agencies, significant gains have been realized through the communication of best practices and the development of easily transferable training curriculums. Although more testing is needed, safety is something that will continue to improve within the motorcoach industry as we work to further reduce fatalities and ensure that motorcoaches continue to be the safest mode of surface transportation.
The motorcoach solution is the answer to many of North America’s transportation, congestion and environmental concerns. It is not only a green and safe transport alternative, but it is the transportation choice that makes the most sense.
Watch the Powerpoint presentation
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