• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Bus mpg statistics

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
I realise that this may be somewhat ambitious, but I'll give it a try.

For my Environmental Education module at University, I am going to be making a presentation on getting more people to travel to Bath Spa University by bus, as opposed to driving. Cars can be an unwelcome obstruction on the main driveway as a bus is trying to make its way towards the main area, but also obviously cause more damage to the environment than a bus. However, this idea would fall flat if it turned out that the bus was so uneconomical that even 20 car loads would be less pollutant than a bus!

I asked at Bath Bus Staiton if they would be able to provide me with some data, but they were reluctant - even after promising to do just that only days earlier. Literally the next day, i.e. today, I was the only passenger on a bendy across its entire journey between the city centre and the University, which is massively uneconomical - and to make matters worse, the driver inadvertedly gave me some data I wanted! He suggested that the bendy Volvos we have are capable of just 4mpg - which works out at roughly 1¼ gallons to ferry me from the Guildhall to the University. Ouch.

Eseentially, my question is this. Is anyone out there able to supply some mileage data for a series of vehicles, including both their fuel economy and tank size? The vehicles I require this data for is as follows:

Volvo B7LA
Volvo B7RLE
Volvo B7TL
Volvo B10BLE
Mercedes-Benz Vario
Dennis Dart
Dennis/ADL Dart SLF
Dennis Lance SLF
Optare Solo

I think that's everything :roll:

If this isn't enough information to give a response then please let me know. Otherwise, I thank you all kindly for any help you can provide :)

N.B.: The idea is that if for instance a Volvo B7LA had a fuel tank of 50 gallons, then in theory according to what the driver told me before they can do 200 miles on a tank, and that on 4mpg it would need roughly 12-15 car loads to justify from an environmental perspective.
 
Last edited:
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

richw

Veteran Member
Joined
10 Jun 2010
Messages
11,528
Location
Liskeard
sounds A bit silly but do the manufacturers not provide a brochure online for potential purchasers? I have just ordered a peugeot 107, and researched all the options and rivals online before shortlisting 3 similar sized vehicles. I made my shortlist based on all the fact and figures available online for all the rivals. Can you do the same for buses?
I will make some enquirys, as i have a few friends in the bus driving profession might be able to get some information out of them!
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
TfGM reported the new ecobuses on the Salford Quayslink service were managing 11.7mpg compared to a normal buses 9.5mpg.
 

PaulLothian

Member
Joined
27 Sep 2010
Messages
695
Location
Linlithgow
Commercial vehicle manufacturers don't tend to give this data in their publicity. I know this from bitter experience when trying to assess the running costs for various makes of mini-bus. They claimed to me that that this is because varying patterns of use may make significant differences to fuel consumption.
 

Nym

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2007
Messages
9,784
Location
Somewhere, not in London
Commercial vehicle manufacturers don't tend to give this data in their publicity. I know this from bitter experience when trying to assess the running costs for various makes of mini-bus. They claimed to me that that this is because varying patterns of use may make significant differences to fuel consumption.

They do indeed. Commercials when I was driving goods ones I could get anything between 280 and 440 miles on a tank depending on how I was driving it and how much I had in the back. (The tank held £100 worth of Diesel :D)
 

starrymarkb

Established Member
Joined
4 Aug 2009
Messages
5,985
Location
Exeter
MPG does vary by operation. The OM904 in a local bus Solo/Vario will drink far more then the same engine in an Atego truck doing motorway work...
 

Dstock7080

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2010
Messages
3,513
Location
West London
An article in yesterdays METRO says the "BorisMaster" has "11.6mpg, a typical hybrid 8.6mpg and a conventional diesel at 5.8mpg."
 

Rhydgaled

Established Member
Joined
25 Nov 2010
Messages
4,856
I would be interested to know how the mpg of Optare Tempos and Optare Excell2 (both of which have trigangular 'low emmision bus' stickers in the back window) compares with older buses and other makes of bus.
 

Nym

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2007
Messages
9,784
Location
Somewhere, not in London
Low Emissions != Low Fuel Consumption though...

Just look at some of the super low emissions diesel vehicles coming out now, they have lower mpg ratings than equivalent sized and powers units from the late 90s!
 

ChrisCooper

Established Member
Joined
7 Sep 2005
Messages
1,787
Location
Loughborough
Low Emissions != Low Fuel Consumption though...

Just look at some of the super low emissions diesel vehicles coming out now, they have lower mpg ratings than equivalent sized and powers units from the late 90s!

The thing is that emissions concentrates on particulates, unburned hydrocarbons, NOX, and CO (although it's not a big factor in diesel emmisions compared to petrol). Carbon just goes in and out, and if it's not converted to CO2 it comes out unburned as particulates, hydrocarbons, or partially burned as CO, so actually by burning more efficiently you get more CO2 out for fuel in. The various methods of reducing emissions have resulted in increased fuel consumption. Overall weight has also increased. Pre-euro buses tended to get fuel consumption that was better than todays hybrids.

Of cource as has already been said, fuel consumption also varies by type of work. As the Borismaster found out, hybrids are far less efficient when running none stop over distances, as the batteries drain and they are just running on the engine like any other bus.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top