Publication: Best Operational and Maintenance Practices for City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy
Loading...
Published
2011-12
ISSN
Date
2014-03-31
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In most large cities in developing countries, buses continue to be the public transport option of choice, carrying a large share of urban travelers. However, transit bus companies in these countries are often cash-strapped. In many cases, the operating cost per bus kilometer exceeds revenues and bus fares are often kept low irrespective of the cost of providing service. Many cities are dominated by old and fuel-intensive buses with high operating costs. Transit systems are also often plagued by overcrowded and undependable service, congested roadways and chaotic operating environments. Across the board, city officials in developing countries are under strong pressure to improve the efficiency and enhance the attractiveness of bus transportation. Fuel makes up a relatively large fraction of total bus operating costs, especially when labor costs are low, as in many developing countries. Fuel costs can be reduced by improving the driving style of bus drivers and through sound maintenance practices. A safe and economical driving style can reduce variable costs, decrease down time due to repair work and maintenance, mitigate negative environmental impacts and improve road safety. Similarly, well-maintained buses that are properly tuned and adjusted tend to be cleaner, safer and consume less fuel than poorly maintained vehicles. This guidance note provides detailed and practical recommendations on how city bus operations managers and their technical staff can plan and implement such enhancements to their fleets through Operations and Maintenance (O&M) practices without significant capital investments. By implementing such recommendations, municipal officials and bus operators can increase the efficiency and fuel economy of their bus systems and reduce their cities' energy consumption, congestion and pollution.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2011. Best Operational and Maintenance Practices for City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy. Energy Sector Management Assistance Program;briefing note 010/11. Guidance note. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17498 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Best Operational and Maintenance Practices for City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)In most large cities in developing countries, buses continue to be the public transport option of choice, carrying a large share of urban travelers. However, transit bus companies in these countries are often cash-strapped. In many cases, the operating cost per bus kilometer exceeds revenues and bus fares are often kept low irrespective of the cost of providing service. Many cities are dominated by old and fuel-intensive buses with high operating costs. Transit systems are also often plagued by overcrowded and undependable service, congested roadways and chaotic operating environments. Across the board, city officials in developing countries are under strong pressure to improve the efficiency and enhance the attractiveness of bus transportation. Fuel makes up a relatively large fraction of total bus operating costs, especially when labor costs are low, as in many developing countries. Fuel costs can be reduced by improving the driving style of bus drivers and through sound maintenance practices. A safe and economical driving style can reduce variable costs, decrease down time due to repair work and maintenance, mitigate negative environmental impacts and improve road safety. This guidance note1 provides detailed and practical recommendations on how city bus operations managers and their technical staff can plan and implement such enhancements to their fleets through Operations and Maintenance (O and M) practices without significant capital investments. By implementing such recommendations, municipal officials and bus operators can increase the efficiency and fuel economy of their bus systems and reduce their cities' energy consumption, congestion and pollution. This guidance note provides detailed and practical recommendations on how city bus operations managers and their technical staff can plan and implement such enhancements to their fleets through O and M practices without significant capital investments.Publication Guangzhou Green Trucks Pilot Project : Background Analysis Report(Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center and the World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-05)This document was devloped as it initiated a pilot project - dubbed Guangzhou Green Trucks Pilot Project in support of Guangzhou's efforts to improve air quality in preparation for the 2010 Asian Games. The goal of this project was to develop a proof of concept for a truck program in Guangdong Province, and possibly China, that aims to: Enhance the fuel economy of the truck fleet, Reduce black carbon and other air pollutants from trucks and consequently obtain GHG emission savings.The project was implemented by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center (CAI-Asia Center), in cooperation with Cascade Sierra Solutions, US EPA and World Bank, and with support from Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau (GEPB), Guangzhou Transport Committee (GTC), and Guangzhou Project Management Office (PMO) for the World Bank.The pilot project aims to contribute to addressing three problems related to trucks in Guangzhou and the wider Guangdong province simultaneously: (a) fuel costs and security; (b) air pollution and associated health impacts, and (c) greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The scope of the pilot was limited to Guangdong Province, focusing on diesel trucks accessing or passing through the city of Guangzhou and surrounding cities, like Shenzhen. Aside from GHG emissions, the scope includes black carbon and other air pollutants from trucks because of their potential interacting effects and contribution to climate change, and because air pollution is an important local concern. The pilot project consisted of the following components, each with its own output: Background analysis, Survey of Guangzhou truck sector, Driver training course for fuel efficiency of trucks and a Technology pilot.Publication Reducing Black Carbon Emissions from Diesel Vehicles : Impacts, Control Strategies, and Cost-Benefit Analysis(Washington, DC, 2014-04-02)A 2013 scientific assessment of black carbon emissions and impacts found that black carbon is second to carbon dioxide in terms of its climate forcing. High concentrations of black carbon in the atmosphere can change precipitation patterns and reduce the amount of radiation that reaches the Earth's surface, which affects local agriculture. Acute and chronic exposures to particulate matter are associated with a range of diseases, including chronic bronchitis and asthma, as well as premature deaths from cardiopulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute lower respiratory infections. The transportation sector accounted for approximately 19 percent of global black carbon emissions in the year 2000. This report aims to inform efforts to control black carbon emissions from diesel-based transportation in developing countries. It presents a summary of emissions control approaches from developed countries, while recognizing that developing countries face a number of on-the-ground implementation challenges. This study applies a new cost-benefit analysis methodology to four simulated diesel black carbon emissions control projects - diesel retrofit in Istanbul, green freight (plus retrofit) in Sao Paulo, fuel and vehicle standards in Jakarta, and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses in Cebu taking into account the additional climate benefits of black carbon reductions. While this report focuses on quantifying just the health and climate benefits of transport interventions, it also serves to highlight the challenges that can be faced when undertaking more comprehensive evaluation of transport projects. A cost-benefit framework for economic analysis of diesel black carbon emissions control transport projects is also presented that factors in both climate and health benefits. Historically, technical interventions to control diesel black carbon emissions in developed countries have successfully relied on fuel quality improvements and vehicle emissions standards.Publication Transit Bus Operational and Maintenance Practices to Maximize Fuel Economy(Washington, DC, 2011-06)Buses are the most common form of urban transit but, in the developing world, are often seen as inefficient and polluting. It is well known that buses that are properly tuned and adjusted tend to be cleaner, safer and consume less fuel than poorly maintained buses. Fuel cost is a relatively large fraction of total cost especially when labor and bus costs are low, as in many developing countries. Hence, reducing fuel use through targeted maintenance of fuel inefficient buses can reduce significant expenditures especially in developing countries, freeing up resources for other improved city services. In addition, if city buses do not receive periodic maintenance that is adequate in quality and quantity, their emissions, both local and global, will suffer. In an effort to catalyze solutions for urban transport, the World Bank Group focused on development of a global Knowledge Product in the form of a 'Guidance Note' (GN) on bus maintenance procedures. The GN is directed towards city transit managers and their technical staff in developing countries to enhance the energy efficiency of city transit. The objective of this work effort is to prepare a Guidance Note (GN) on maintenance best practices that is a practical and useful tool to guide the implementation of a program that will enhance the fuel efficiency of buses. To address this objective, taking stock of existing good programs and approaches and interacting with relevant city fleet operators is critical.Publication TRACE Model in Pilot Cities in Latin America(Washington, DC, 2015-05-19)This report, supported by the energy sector management assistance program (ESMAP), applies the tool for the rapid assessment of city energy (TRACE) to examine energy use in León, México. This study is one of three requested and conducted in 2013 by the World Bank Latin America and the Caribbean energy unit to begin a dialogue on energy efficiency (EE) potential in Latin America and Caribbean cities. In Puebla and León, TRACE helped the Mexican Secretary of Energy (SENER) develop an urban EE strategy. TRACE is a simple, practical tool for making rapid assessments of municipal energy use. It helps prioritize sectors that have the potential to save significant amounts of energy and identifies appropriate EE measures in six sectors - transport, municipal buildings, wastewater, streetlights, solid waste, and power and heat. Globally, the six are often managed by the cities which have substantial influence over public utility services. The study looked at six areas to determine the three that have the greatest savings potential and where the city has a significant degree of control: streetlights, solid waste, and municipal buildings.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Long-Run Effects of Democracy on Income Inequality : Evidence from Repeated Cross-Sections(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-01)This paper assesses the link between democracy and inequality. Inequality is measured at the cohort level with pseudo-panel data built from nine Latin American countries' household surveys (1995-2009, biannual). Democracy is measured as a stock during long periods of time both before and after each cohort's year of birth. The paper presents evidence that long-run historical patterns in the degree of democracy relate to income inequality. However, this relationship is non-monotonic: inequality first increases with the stock of democracy before falling. The paper also presents evidence that education may be a mechanism explaining this result.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-11-02)This volume offers a simple, systematic guide to creating a knowledge sharing practice in your organization. It shows how to build the enabling environment and develop the skills needed to capture and share knowledge gained from operational experiences to improve performance and scale-up successes. Its recommendations are grounded on the insights gained from the past seven years of collaboration between the World Bank and its clients around the world—ministries and national agencies operating in various sectors—who are working to strengthen their operations through robust knowledge sharing. While informed by the academic literature on knowledge management and organizational learning, this handbook’s operational background and many real-world examples and tips provide a missing, practical foundation for public sector officials in developing countries and for development practitioners. However, though written with a public sector audience in mind, the overall concepts and approaches will also hold true for most organizations in the private sector and the developed world.Publication Natural Disasters, Poverty and Inequality(Taylor and Francis, 2021-10-28)Conventional risk assessments underestimate the human and macroeconomic costs of disasters, leading to inefficient risk management strategies. This happens because conventional assessments focus on asset losses, neglecting important relationships between vulnerability and development. When affected by a hazard, poor households take longer to recover from disasters and are more likely to face long-term consequences. Forced to manage trade-offs between essential consumption and reconstruction, these households are more likely to face persistent health or education costs. This chapter proposes a review of existing research into the natural disaster-poverty-inequality nexus and the various metrics that can be used to measure disaster impacts, such as recovery times, economic (income or consumption) losses, poverty incidence, inequality, and welfare or well-being losses. Each of these metrics provides a different perspective on disaster costs and suggest different spatial and sectoral priorities for action. Focusing on the concepts of well-being losses and socioeconomic resilience, this chapter shows how more comprehensive accounting of disaster impacts can better inform disaster risk management and climate change adaptation strategies and support their integration into development and poverty-reduction policies.Publication 360° Resilience(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-27)Caribbean countries, a set of mostly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have a history of dealing with large shocks. The region is threatened by both economic and natural hazards. Nations have specialized in tourism and commodity exports, disproportionately exposing them to global economic cycles through changes in tourism demand and commodity prices. They are also located in a region that is highly exposed to a range of natural hazards, from volcanic eruptions to earthquakes and hurricanes, which damage their infrastructure stock, reduce tourism demand, and destroy agricultural production. Hazards have often caused severe damage to economies and livelihoods in the region. This report reviews existing assessments of past losses from natural and economic shocks in the Caribbean, looking at impacts on physical capital, private sector activity (especially tourism and agriculture), economic growth, poverty, and well-being. It concludes that, despite the damage to physical capital experienced by countries due to natural hazards (especially in housing and transport infrastructure), the impacts on growth are short-lived, possibly because many mechanisms are in place to help economies bounce back rapidly. However, natural hazards have a high impact on poverty and human capital and threaten the sustainability of economic growth.