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West Virginia University characterized the emissions and fuel economy performance of a 30-foot 2010 transit bus equipped with urea selective catalytic reduction (u-SCR) exhaust aftertreatment. The bus was exercised over speed-time driving schedules representative of both urban and on-highway activity using a chassis dynamometer while the exhaust was routed to a full-scale dilution tunnel with research grade emissions analyzers. The Paris speed-time driving schedule was used to represent slow urban transit bus activity while the Cruise driving schedule was used to represent on-highway activity. Vehicle weights representative of both one-half and empty passenger loading were evaluated. Fuel economy observed during testing with the urban driving schedule was significantly lower (55%) than testing performed with the on-highway driving schedule.

It is difficult to project the emissions performance of a vehicle on a route unless the test cycle used to gain the emissions data reasonably represents that route. A chassis dynamometer emissions measurement test schedule consisting of three modes (congested, non-congested and bus rapid transit (BRT) operation) was developed for use in a program to evaluate transit bus technologies in Mexico City. Existing buses were fitted with global positioning system (GPS) data loggers and, between September 2nd and 8th of 2004, 54 hours of speed-time data were collected while the buses were operated over several bus routes in Mexico City. The data set was then broken down into individual micro-trips, each consisting of an idle period followed by the bus traveling some distance, followed by a final deceleration to idle.

Although diesel engines still power most of the heavy-duty transit buses in the United States, many major cities are also operating fleets where a significant percentage of buses is powered by lean-burn natural gas engines. Emissions from these buses are often expressed in distance-specific units of grams per mile (g/mile) or grams per kilometer (g/km), but the driving cycle or route employed during emissions measurement has a strong influence on the reported results. A driving cycle that demands less energy per unit distance than others results in higher fuel economy and lower distance-specific oxides of nitrogen emissions. In addition to energy per unit distance, the degree to which the driving cycle is transient in nature can also affect emissions.

Transit agencies across the United States operate bus fleets primarily powered by diesel, natural gas, and hybrid drive systems. Passenger loading affects the power demanded from the engine, which in turn affects distance-specific emissions and fuel consumption. Analysis shows that the nature of bus activity, taking into account the idle time, tire rolling resistance, wind drag, and acceleration energy, influences the way in which passenger load impacts emissions. Emissions performance and fuel consumption from diesel and natural gas powered buses were characterized by the West Virginia University (WVU) Transportable Emissions Testing Laboratory. A comparison matrix for all three bus technologies included three common driving cycles (the Braunschweig Cycle, the OCTA Cycle, and the ADEME-RATP Paris Cycle). Each bus was tested at three different passenger loading conditions (empty weight, half weight, and full weight).

Particulate emission from diesel engines is one of the most important pollutants in urban areas. With increasing worldwide regulatory requirements to lower particulate matter (PM) standards for heavy duty diesel powered vehicles, the interest in diesel particulate filter based emission control solutions such as the Continuously Regenerating Technology (CRT®) have significantly increased. This system has been applied to thousands of heavy-duty diesel vehicles in Europe over the last six years to meet various local and governmental requirements, while recently introduced in the US. Among the numerous demonstration programs taking place in the US, one important one is the evaluation of CRT filter systems on urban transit buses in NY City. Here, several NY City transit buses with DDC Series 50 engines have been equipped with CRT filters and operating on ultra low sulfur diesel (< 30 ppm S) in transit service in Manhattan since February 2000.

A multi-year technology validation program was completed in 2001 to evaluate ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels and passive diesel particle filters (DPF) in several different diesel fleets operating in Southern California. The fuels used throughout the validation program were diesel fuels with less than 15-ppm sulfur content. Trucks and buses were retrofitted with two types of passive DPFs. Two rounds of emissions testing were performed to determine if there was any degradation in the emissions reduction. The results demonstrated robust emissions performance for each of the DPF technologies over a one-year period. Detailed descriptions of the overall program and results have been described in previous SAE publications [2, 3, 4, 5]. In 2002, a third round of emission testing was performed by NREL on a small subset of vehicles in the Ralphs Grocery Truck fleet that demonstrated continued robust emissions performance after two years of operation and over 220,000 miles.