BUS TESTING AND ENGINE EMISSIONS

Recent mandates from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning bus testing and particulate standards respectively have the transit industry in a quandary. Bus testing requirements under the First Article Bus Test Transit Plan under Section 317 of the 1987 Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation and Assistance Act which states that new model buses and buses with new components acquired after September 30, 1989 be tested, is riddled with ambiguities as to what qualifies as a bus, a new model or a major new component and what deadline for new models is to be considered. Manufacturers and suppliers will have to bear the brunt of testing costs much to their dismay. In addition, the industry does not feel that the 1991 deadline for particulate standards compliance is a feasible one and are working to try to get the EPA to extend this deadline to 1994 in line with the one given for trucks. It is feared that no new innovations in buses will be evident in the next five years and that there is an inadequate supply of alternative fuels to meet the 1991 particulate standard.