[sustran] Fuel cell powered buses delivered to London Transport for improving air quality

[Kisan Mehta]

 Dear Friends,

I am sure that many of you are aware of this development.
Yet I am  venturing to forward to our group.

Mumbai suffers from air pollution.  Auto exhaust accounts
for 83% of air pollution.   Yet Mumbai residents cannot think
of adopting innovations that reduce autoexhaust. The World
Bank in the assistance to the Mumbai Urban Transport
Project,  has laid down difficult-to-implement conditions
on the  municipalised BEST bus services and provided
unrestricted licence to private personal motor cars and heavy
duty vehicles to roam freely and cause further pollution and
increase road accidents in which as conceded by the Bank
95% of victims are pedestrians.

There are daily on avareage 10 deaths on roads and 25
on railway tracks.  This clearly was not the conern of
the Bank at the time of extending generous loan for
highway construction for motorised vehicles.   Best wishes.

Kisan Mehta
***********************
  CUTE buses arrive in London
16 December 2003

Author: Stefan Geiger, Fuel Cell Today
Provider: Fuel Cell Today

Today, transport authorities in London have received three fuel cell powered
buses as part of the European Union CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe)
project.

The vehicles were handed over by Dennis Campbell, CEO of fuel
cell manufacturer Ballard and Wolfgang Presinger, representative
of bus manufacturer EvoBus (part of DaimlerChrysler) to London's mayor Ken
Livingstone and public transport company 'First' representative Leon
Daniels. The City of London will operate the
fuel cell buses on a central London bus route between Oxford
Circus and Ilford; beginning in January 2004.

The buses will be refuelled at a 'First' bus depot in North-London.
Unfortunately, the station has not been completed so far. Until
then, refuelling will take place at a nearby gas distribution centre
of industrial gas producer BOC. Another partner in London is BP, which will
run the refuelling station later.

The City of London is one of ten cities participating in the European Fuel
Cell Bus Project, which will see 30 fuel cell buses operating
on the roads of Europe over the next two years. To date, buses
 involved in the European Fuel Cell Bus Project have operated for
more than 5,700 hours and have traveled over 83,000 kilometers.

The 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses equipped with 205 kW
Ballard(R) fuel cell engines will be driven on the roads in ten
different cities in Europe, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London,
Luxembourg, Madrid, Porto, Reykjavik, Stockholm and Stuttgart. These fuel
cell buses will be driven by regular transit bus drivers, carrying
passengers in daily service in each city. Apart from Porto, all other cities
have now received their vehicles.

"Ballard is proud to be powering the largest fleet of fuel cell buses
in the world today," said Dennis Campbell, Ballard's President and Chief
Executive Officer. "Hundreds of thousands of people will
have the opportunity to experience first-hand the clean, quiet and
comfortable ride of these zero-emission buses.

After the official press conference, representatives of the media
had the chance to enjoy a smooth ride through central London. The launch of
the buses in London is probably even more significant
than in other cities, since so far, there has been only one working
fuel cell system in operation in the UK.
*****************