According to the Detroit News and Associated Press:
General Motors recently announced that it is more than doubling the number of its diesel-electric hybrid municipal buses on the roads, winning orders for 1,700 hybrid buses from Washington, D.C. (952 buses), Philadelphia (480 buses) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (up to 300 buses).
Last month, Daimler announced it was selling 1,050 Orion VII diesel hybrid buses to New York by 2010 and 202 to Ottawa, Ontario. Daimler says at least 2,600 orders have been placed since 2003.
Neither DDOT nor SMART have any hybrid buses. Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Ann Arbor municipal bus systems do.
The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority said last year it would replace its entire 69-bus fleet with hybrid buses and became the first bus system in Metro Detroit to purchase a GM-Allison hybrid bus last October.
Hybrid buse get 30 percent better fuel economy and dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases and smog-forming gases. Hybrid engines make sense for city buses because hybrids are most efficient in stop-and-go driving situations, capturing energy when the bus brakes.