A recently-published study by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) ranks the top 20 cities where going car-free will save the most money. Number 14 on the list is Washington, DC, which has nearly 200,000 car-less households already.

The APTA’s report claims that the average DC resident would save $10,282 per year in transportation-related costs by giving up his or her vehicle and traveling solely via public transport. The APTA considered up-to-date gas prices, parking rates, and bus and train fares in its calculations. The annual figure equates to around $857 per month in savings.

The $857 in monthly savings takes into account car payments, insurance, repairs, fuel, and parking fees. If you think that number is on the high side, consider the $1,218 monthly cost of owning a private vehicle in the first city on the list: New York. Rounding out the top five are Boston ($1,127), San Francisco ($1,095), Seattle ($999), and Chicago ($978).

The study provides us with some idea of the high and often hidden costs of owning and operating a personal vehicle. Car pools, trains, buses, taxis, bicycles, and walking are just some of the many alternatives with the potential to save significant money. But the convenience and necessity of a car are inarguable facts for many individuals, and it is difficult to put a price tag on these things.

The American Public Transportation Association is a non-profit organization that actively promotes the use of public transport in the United States.

We could be generating huge amounts of power from sewage. The process is fairly simple — just ferment sewage to produce a fuel called biogas. Biogas is almost entirely methane, and so is natural gas, so the two are essential interchangeable. The potential to produce biogas is almost entirely overlooked by most countries — except Sweden.

In Sweden, 25% of all energy use is derived from biomass. In Linköping, Sweden’s fifth biggest city, all the buses and garbage trucks run on biogas. The also have a biogas powered train line and some private taxis run on biogas.

Last year, the Swedish government converted more than 700,000 liters of ‘confiscated alcohol’ into biofuel, which otherwise are poured down the drain by the customs officials, as a standard procedure. “Amanda,” thought to be the world’s first biogas train, started chugging along the southeast coast of Sweden in 2005.

You can find biogas being sold at gas stations around Sweden. Cars using biogas created a stir when they began to be rolled out on a large scale at the start of the decade. The tailpipe emissions are virtually odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and diesel, and the idea of recovering energy from toilet waste appealed to green-minded Swedes.

In Stockholm, 25% of city buses run on biogas or ethanol.

A comprehensive book about of biogas is the Complete Biogas Handbook. It’s technical but full of information on this fuel. See also the book, Reusing the Resource, which is all about treating sewage as resource, not a waste product.

For more on biogas in Sweden, see this article in The Guardian

The Tyee reports: Ten years ago the people of Hasselt, Belgium embarked upon a bold experiment: no more charging for bus rides. Ever since, they’ve been proving the idea can work wonderfully. This city of 70,000 residents, with 300,000 commuters from the surrounding area, has made traveling by bus easy, affordable, and efficient. Now, people in Hasselt often speak of “their” bus system, and with good reason. The Boulevard Shuttle leaves you waiting for at most five minutes, the Central Shuttle has a 10 minute frequency, and system-wide you never have to wait more than a half an hour.

Hasselt City Council’s principal aim in introducing free public transport was to promote the new bus system to such a degree that it would catch on and become the natural option for getting around. And it did — immediately. On the first day, bus ridership increased 783 per cent! The first full year of free-fare transit saw an increase of 900 per cent over the previous year; by 2001, the increase was up to 1,223 per cent and ridership continues to go up every day.

A prime lesson offered by Hasselt is the fact that they radically improved the bus system as well as their walking and cycling infrastructure before they removed the fare boxes. In 1996, there were only three bus routes with about 18,000 service hours/year. Today, there are 11 routes with more than 95,000 service hours/year.

The transit system in Hasselt cost taxpayers approximately $1.9 million in 2006. This amounts to one per cent of their municipal budget and makes up about 26 per cent of the total operating cost of the transit system. The Flemish national government covered the rest (approximately $5.4 million) under a long-term agreement.

Via The Tyee

It’s a prototype of a diesel-electric hybrid bus from DaimlerChrysler! The company plans to unveil this bus, the Citaro, to the general public sometime this year. The bus has a sophisticated hybrid system, that allows the bus to run in emission-free battery-only mode. Rather than providing continuous driving power, the diesel engine in the Citaro series hybrid operates as a generator to produce electrical power when required. The electrical power is stored in maintenance-free lithium-ion batteries mounted on the roof of the Citaro. They are charged not only by the diesel generator but also by energy recuperation from braking.

The actual drive power to the wheels of the Citaro hybrid is provided by four electric wheel hub motors on the center and rear axles of the vehicle. The total wheel hub motor output of 320 kW is ample for an articulated bus even under strenuous operating conditions.

When drawing into, standing at and accelerating away from bus stops, the hybrid bus can operate in electric-only mode, which is not only virtually emission-free but also much quieter.

A big advantage of the clever series hybrid technology used in the Citaro is downsizing: instead of the large 12-liter six-in-line engine normally used in the articulated model, the hybrid bus is fitted with a compact unit with a displacement of 4.8 liters. This reduces the weight of the engine from approximately 1,000 kg to approximately 450 kg.

Since the diesel engine of the Citaro hybrid does not drive the vehicle directly, it is not required to produce peak outputs and is therefore able to operate very economically and with low environmental impact over a narrow rpm range at or close to its peak efficiency. The torque curve of the hybrid-bus engine is therefore tailored to frequent steady-state operation, for optimal emissions performance and fuel efficiency.

The hybrid-drive Citaro is able to dispense with a conventional automatic transmission. This results in improved efficiency and weight savings. The downsizing of the drivetrain components means that the weight penalty of the Citaro hybrid bus over a conventional diesel-powered articulated bus is only around one tonne.

Following the unveiling of the prototype in the second half of 2007, pilot operation will begin early next year. The series production is scheduled for 2009.

Via PureGreenCars and DaimlerChrysler