Integrated Bus Information System: Vehicle Procurement Resource for Transit

West Virginia University, under contract to the Federal Transit Administration, has developed two tools to evaluate the pollutant emissions, greenhouse gases, and fuel economy of transit buses: a searchable database of transit vehicle emission data and a transit fleet emission inventory model. These tools, complemented by a transit vehicle life-cycle cost model developed by West Virginia University, Battelle, and Transit Resource Center for the Transportation Research Board, provide an interactive, approachable, and reliable method for users, primarily transit agencies, to evaluate overall fleet emissions and fuel consumption for optimization of fleet configuration and operation. These tools will be made available through an online website called the Integrated Bus Information System (IBIS). This paper describes development of the transit fleet inventory model and comparison with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) MOBILE6 and MOVES (motor vehicle emission simulator) emission inventory models. The IBIS model was developed from extensive chassis dynamometer data from several reference vehicles. Polynomial models were built through linear regression. These backbone models characterized the effects of driving activity on vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. Comparison of predicted emissions showed good agreement for hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen emissions and acceptable agreement for particulate matter emissions. The EPA MOBILE6 model assumed constant values as a function of duty cycle for carbon dioxide emissions and fuel economy. The West Virginia University IBIS model and EPA MOVES model displayed similar trends for carbon dioxide emissions, but MOVES predicted substantially lower carbon dioxide levels.

Language

  • English

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01333238
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780309167499
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 11-3307
  • Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 21 2011 2:13PM