final eeci busguidenote bn010 11

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Best Operational and Maintenance Practices or City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy | a

Helping Cities Meet Their Energy Challenges

of the New Century

ENERGY EFFICIENT CITIES INITIATIVE

GuIANCE NTE

Best perational and MaintenancePractices for City Bs Fleets to

Maximize Fel Economy

Brieng Note 010/11


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b | Best Operational and Maintenance Practices or City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

INTRODUCTION 3

SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY 5

Global Review o Good Practices 5

Interviews with Transit Organizations 6

INCORPORATING CORE PRINCIPLES FOR FUEL EFFICIENCY 8

Guiding Principles or Bus O&M 8

Proposed Organizational Structure or Bus O&M 9

RECOMMENDED PLAN OF ACTION 11

Principle I: Management Commitment and Ownership 11

Principle II: Data Collection and Analysis 14

Principle III: Maintenance o Low-Fuel Ecient Buses 18

Principle IV: Training o Low Perorming Drivers 22

Principle V: Employee Communications and Rewards 24

RESULTS FROM FIELD TESTING 26

Test Results rom Bus Maintenance and Repair 27

Test Results rom Driver Training 27

Scaling up o Test Results to City Bus Fleet 28

Cost-Benet Analysis 28

Conditions o Applicability 30

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 33

REFERENCES 35

ANNEX 1: Tier I Checks or Implementation at the Local Bus Depot 37

ANNEX 2: Tier II Checks or Implementation at the Central Bus Maintenance Facility 38

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 39

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 40


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Best Operational and Maintenance Practices or City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy | 1

In most large cities in developing countries, buses continue to be the publictransport option o choice, carrying a large share o urban travelers. However,

transit bus companies in these countries are oten cash-strapped. In many

cases, the operating cost per bus kilometer exceeds revenues and bus ares are otenkept low irrespective o the cost o providing service. Many cities are dominated by

old and uel-intensive buses with high operating costs. Transit systems are alsooten plagued by overcrowded and undependable service, congested roadways and

chaotic operating environments. Across the board, city ocials in developingcountries are under strong pressure to improve the eciency and enhance the at-tractiveness o bus transportation.

Fuel makes up a relatively large raction o total bus operating costs, especiallywhen labor costs are low, as in many developing countries. Fuel costs can be re-duced by improving the driving style o bus drivers and through sound mainte-

nance practices. A sae and economical driving style can reduce variable costs,decrease down time due to repair work and maintenance, mitigate negative envi-

ronmental impacts and improve road saety. Similarly, well-maintained busesthat are properly tuned and adjusted tend to be cleaner, saer and consume lessuel than poorly maintained vehicles.

This Guidance Note1 provides detailed and practical recommendationson how city bus operations managers and their technical sta can plan and im-plement such enhancements to their feets through Operations and Maintenance

(O&M) practices without signicant capital investments. By implementing suchrecommendations, municipal ocials and bus operators can increase the e-

ciency and uel economy o their bus systems and reduce their cities energy con-

sumption, congestion and pollution.Work on this Guidance Note started with a global literature review to assess

state-o-the-art bus O&M practices in a number o countries, with a ocus onenhancing uel economy. Interviews were conducted with maintenance manag-

ers o transit organizations in eight cities in our countries. The inormation romthose interviews, in combination with data rom the literature review, were useddevelop the Guidance Notes recommended plan o action to achieve measurable

uel economy improvements displayed in Table 1.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 Tis Guidance Note summarizes a larger report published by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program(ESMAP) entitled ransit Bus Operational and Maintenance Practices (ESMAP 2011). For more inormation,

visit www.esmap.org.


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2 | Best Operational and Maintenance Practices or City Bus Fleets to Maximize Fuel Economy

The recommended action plan ocuses on ve principles:

1. Management commitment and ownership

2. Data collection and analysis

3. Maintenance directed at low fuel economy buses

4. Training directed at low-performing drivers

5. Employee communications and rewards

From these principles, a series o 16 specic actions were developed covering manage-ment unctions, data collection and analysis, special maintenance or uel economy, main-tenance quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) unctions, driver trainingand employee rewards. Many o these actions (such as driver training or uel-ecientdriving) have been widely adopted, while others are uncommon (such as, targeted main-

tenance or low uel economy buses).A validation o the recommended actions was carried out through eld testing con-

ducted in three cities in southern India: Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Mysore. The eldtesting results were incorporated into this analysis.

Implementation o the actions showed signicant uel economy improvements

at the test sites. Newer diesel buses (4 to 7 years old) appeared to obtain about 4 to 5 per-cent improvement in uel economy, while older diesel buses (7 to 14 years old) appearedto obtain about 7 to 8 percent uel economy improvement. Driver training showed a uel

economy improvement in the 5 to 10 percent range, with the greatest benet comingrom on-road training rather than classroom instruction.

Due to the many dierent issues aecting uel economy, it is dicult to make deni-tive statements in the absence o a careul controlled study, but the limited data suggeststhat the combination o driver training and organizational ocus on uel economy could

provide uel economy benets in the 7 to 15 percent range or organizations where ueleconomy has not previously been a ocus.

The O&M practices recommended here were ound to be most cost eective with

a minimum feet size o 100 buses in a city with an existing maintenance acility and lowlabor costs.

Overall, the testing showed that the recommended approach could be implementedwithout signicant changes in operating structures, capital investment or upront prepa-ration. However, energy-ecient O&M practices must be careully planned and must be

appropriate to the size, resources, and culture o each city bus company in order to besuccessul.


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The transport sector plays an increasingly signicant role in global energyrequirements, accounting or 23 percent o all world energy consumption.A single energy source, petroleum, still accounts or the vast majority

95 percento the energy used by the sector (IPCC 2007). As a result, the oil pricevolatility o recent years has created considerable pressures on transport systems,particularly in the developing world.

This pressure, plus the explosion o urbanization and private vehicle owner-

ship, has created strong incentives or city ocials in developing countries toimprove the eciency and enhance the attractiveness o public transportation.Energy consumption or transport per individual is our times higher in cities

such as Houston or Chicago, where the majority o trips are made by private car,compared to cities such as Warsaw or Hong Kong, where public transport, walk-

ing and cycling are predominant.2 In most large cities in developing countries,buses continue to be the public transport option o choice, carrying a large shareo urban travelers, oten at relatively low cost.

However, transit bus companies in many developing countries are cash-strapped (Kojima 2001). Many cities are dominated by oten old and uel-intensivebuses with high operating costs. At the same time, many bus transit systems are

plagued by ineciency, overcrowded and undependable service, congested road-ways that slow down buses, and chaotic operating environments. As a result, the

share o travel represented by bus transit has declined (IEA 2002).In many cities, the operating cost per bus kilometer exceeds revenues, and bus

ares are oten kept low irrespective o the cost o providing service. For example,

in India, most publicly owned bus systems in large cities generally cover about 70

to 90 percent o operating costs (Pucher, Korattyswaroopam and Ittyerah 2004).In Jakarta, Indonesia, the provincial government has regulated public transporta-tion ares, keeping them just high enough to prevent bus companies rom operat-ing at a loss.3

Fuel makes up a relatively large raction o total bus operating costs, especiallywhen labor and bus costs are low, as in many developing countries (Jacobs,Maunder and Fouracre 1981). In the case o inormal small-scale operations us-

ing rehabilitated or locally abricated buses, the share o uel cost is 20 to 30 per-cent.4 In India, the uel costs or buses in the state o Andhra Pradesh were 37

percent o total expenditures in 2009 (APSRTC 2011).

INTRODUCTION

2 http://www.uitp.org/advocacy/public_transport.cm#read

3 http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/cheap-jakarta-bus-ares-at-what-price/436368

4 http://www.worldbank.org/transport/roads/rdt_docs/annex1.pd


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Fuel costs can be reduced by improving the driving style o bus drivers, andthrough sound maintenance practices. A sae and economical driving style can

reduce variable costs (uels, repairs, maintenance, tires), decrease down time dueto repair work and maintenance, mitigate negative environmental impacts, andimprove road saety. Similarly, well-maintained buses that are properly tuned and

adjusted tend to be cleaner, saer and consume less uel than poorly maintainedvehicles (UNEP 2009).

This Guidance Note provides detailed and practical recommendations on

how city bus operations managers and their technical sta can plan and imple-

ment such enhancements to their feets through O&M practices without signi-cant capital investments.


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Work on this Guidance Note started with a global literature review toassess state-o-the-art bus O&M practices with a ocus on enhancing

uel economy. Interviews were conducted with maintenance manag-

ers o transit organizations in eight cities in our countries: Brazil, China, India,and the United States.5 The inormation rom those interviews, in combination

with data rom the literature review, were used develop the recommended actionplan to achieve measurable uel economy improvements in this Guidance Note. A

validation o the recommended actions was carried out through eld testing con-ducted in three cities in southern India: Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Mysore. Theeld testing results were incorporated into this analysis.

GlObAl REVIEw O GOOD PRACTICES

A global literature review on the eect o bus O&M practices on uel economy re-veals limited documentation, but oers examples o areas or improvement. Astudy rom Singapore tracking the daily uel economy o 24 buses over 3 monthsound that major maintenancerecommended servicing every 30,000 kmin-creased uel economy by 3.2 percent (Ang and Deng 1990). Another signicantnding was that the eects o maintenance decline with mileage accumulation afermajor service. In another study, nine bus companies in Jakarta participated in acomprehensive bus inspection/maintenance (I/M) and driver training program(UNEP 2009). While a 5 percent decrease in uel consumption was achievedthrough maintenance practices, improved driving methods resulted in another 10percent decrease in uel consumption.

Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC)in India reported uel economy or identical bus types in Hyderabad to be 10 to

12 percent higher than the values reported by Mumbai and Delhi (Sudhakar-arao 2010). Although there are dierences in route congestion and weatherconditions between these cities, much o the uel economy benets are attribut-

able to bus O&M practices already in place. APSRTC has a long-standing pro-gram on O&M practices to improve city-wide bus feet uel economy. Data over

29 years (1980-2009) shows that uel economy has improved rom 4.1 km per

SCOPE AND METHODOlOGY

5 Te interviews were conducted at the state owned Mumbai (BES) and Delhi (DC) bus transport corporations inIndia; two privately owned bus companies in Brazil (Julio Simoes in Sao Paulo and Bel our in Rio); Beijing Public

ransport Holding (BP) and the privately owned Beijing Xiang Long (BXL) in China; and the Washington DC

and the State College Pennsylvania transport authorities in the United States.


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liter (km/L) in 1981 to 5.2 km/L in 2010-11 (APSRTC 2010). Comparable bus-es in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply

and Transport (BEST) report uel eciencies in the 4.2 to 4.5 km/L range(ESMAP 2011).

On the other hand, minor malunctions in the air/uel or spark managementsystems can increase uel consumption and emissions signicantly. A study con-ducted in Bangkok6 shows, with over 90 percent7 o all public transport handled bybuses, that a periodic maintenance program or aging bus feet resulted in a uel

economy gain o 9 percent and a signicant drop in exhaust emissionsby at least40 percent carbon monoxide, 20 percent hydrocarbons, 55 percent particulate mat-

ter, 15 percent black smoke, and 27 percent opacity.Driving practices have been recognized as a key actor in enabling buses to

obtain good uel economy. Driver training programs, teaching drivers how to

drive in a uel-ecient and sae manner, have been developed in many coun-tries and share common content. A key nding is that the benets are obtainednot through classroom instruction but rom actual on-road training with a

proessional driving instructor. Driver training or sae and uel-ecient driv-ing was uniormly provided in the countries surveyed, and is a legal require-

ment in many countries.The literature on bus maintenance practices has been summarized in meta-

studies conducted by the US Transportation Research Board (Schiavone 2005).

The key elements o a well-developed maintenance plan include the ollowingsteps:

writtenmaintenanceplanthatisupdatedregularlyforallvehiclesintheeet; preventivemaintenancecheckliststhatare,atminimum,consistentwithman-

uacturer requirements or buses under warranty; QA/QCchecksonrepairsconductedregularlybyaninternalteamandperi-

odically by an external audit team; data-based documentation that the existing planadequately protects assets

rom deterioration over the busess useul lie; and detailedandpermanentrecordkeepingsystemthatcantrackthemaintenance

history o each bus.

Tese steps are required by the government in many developed countries and areconsidered as a baseline or good maintenance. Te literature also suggests the needor written standard operating procedures so that all repairs are perormed accord-ing to procedure.

INTERVIEwS wITH TRANSIT ORGANIzATIONS

Major dierences were ound in the resources and level o eort to maximize ueleconomy. Only two organizations o the eight surveyed (BXL and BP in Beijing)tracked and maximized the uel economy perormance o individual buses anddrivers, while a third (Simoes in Sao Paulo) employed a unique strategy o sellingbuses over our years old. Data collection practices and automated data acquisition

6 http://www.walshcarlines.com/pd/Impact%20o%20Bus%20Maintenance%20on%20Emissions.pd

7 http://www2.gtz.de/dokumente/bib/05-0524.pd


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systemuseismorevariedand,surprisingly,manydevelopingcountryeets,like

those interviewed in China and Brazil, employed state-o-the-art systems. Te ana-lytical capability possible with better data is, however, not always used or uel econ-omy analysis.

Interviews also revealed the key barriers to improving uel economy. During

the interviews with feet managers at bus depots, everyone claimed that ueleconomy was a high priority but more detailed questioning revealed other pri-orities. The key barriers were ound to be the ollowing:

1. Most maintenance organizations are measured by senior management ortheir ability to have a high percentage o buses in the eld daily operatingsaely. Pulling buses rom service or repair due to low uel economy actuallyhurts the depots operating perormance metrics.

2. Maintenance managers rarely benchmark the fuel economy of their eetagainstfueleconomy achievedbyother comparableeets. Somemanagerswereawareoftheaveragefueleconomyofsomeothereetsbutbelievedtheaverages were about the same even with real dierences actually observed.For example, uel economy levels o 4.4 km/L and 4.8 km/L were regarded assimilar even though the latter is 9 percent better than the rst.

3. Bus uel economy varies by route and is also strongly aected by driver peror-mance. Most bus companies do not have any in-house analysis to normalize or

route and driver eects, and cannot identiy the low uel economy buses exceptor extreme cases.

4. Te data required to identiy low uel economy buses must be quite granularand have low error rates. Tis requires robust data collection systems with gooddata quality assurance, but ew bus companies have made the eort to ensurehigh quality data inputs.

5. Many maintenance managers are convinced that good periodic maintenanceautomatically maximizes uel economy. argeted maintenance o low ueleconomy buses may be seen in this context as having a small payo when the

ocus o the organization is on periodic maintenance.


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T

he global review o good practices revealed that the literature on bus O&Mwith a ocus on uel economy, especially in developing countries, was lim-

ited to a small number o papers. Accordingly, the review was expanded toinclude corporate strategies or enhancing energy eciency so that the broadlessons rom other businesses could be applied to bus maintenance organizations.

wo main ndings rom the review o corporate strategies showed that:

energyeciencyisobtainedfromnotjustasimpletechnicalx;managementand employees must ocus on implementing the actions required; and

improvedeciencywillberealizedovertimeasimplementationoftheac-tions becomes routine and accepted by all parts o the organization.

Energy eciency has been embraced by many companies in every eld. An anal-

ysis o global company strategies by the Pew Center or Climate Change identi-ed a set o core principles based on over 70 case studies o corporations to in-crease eciency (Prindle 2010). Tese include senior management ocus,employee participation, detailed data collection and analysis, and communica-tion o results. For bus operators, when these are combined with driver trainingand good maintenance practices, they create a culture o eciency in the organi-zationthatcanimproveeetaveragefueleconomywhileeliminatinginecientoutliersfromtheeet.

GUIDING PRINCIPlES OR bUS O&M

Basedonthelessonslearned,backgroundresearch,andinterviewsofcityeetoperators, the ollowing principles have been developed or O&M guidelines:

1. Management commitment and ownership. The technical support plan must beowned by the city transit agency so that its implementation is undertaken in acoordinated manner.

2. Data collection and analysis. echnical support interventions should bedetermined by benchmarks, targets and measurement o uel economy in-dicators.

INCORPORATING CORE PRINCIPlESOR UEl EICIENCY


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3. Maintenance directed at low uel economy buses. echnical support interven-tionsshouldbefocusedonthe10percentoftheeetshowingthelowestfueleconomy, and underperorming buses should undergo proper O&M practicesand quality assurance o repairs.

4. Training directed at low-perorming drivers. On-road and classroom trainingwith a trained instructor is required to improve overall driving quality.

5. Employee communications and rewards. Te operator should periodicallycommunicate eciency results and give incentives to employees to create aculture o uel economy.

PROPOSED ORGANIzATIONAl STRUCTURE OR bUS O&M

o successully implement an energy-ecient O&M strategy requires time,patient advocacy, and overcoming signicant organizational challenges, but sucheorts yield uel economy improvements and help the bottom line. Senior man-agement responsible or city bus operations must lead and oversee the entire pro-cess, ensure alignment with existing working arrangements, and communicatethefueleconomyresultsofthecitybuseettoemployees.

The early stages are the most important to developing and implementing an

energy-ecient O&M program. O equal importance is the involvement o bus

depot managers to assist in developing a technical support plan. The ollowingrecommended plan o action is directed towards both groups. At the corporatelevel, senior management will be responsible or setting and monitoring ueleconomy targets and implementation strategies, or the associated investments,

and or communicating the results achieved at the end o the year to employees.At the bus depot level, depot managers will be responsible or implementing therecommended practices and periodically rewarding best-perorming drivers and

mechanics. Depot managers also report uel economy results achieved rom eachdepot to the corporate level.

Figure 1 presents the recommended organizational structure or an eective

implementation o the O&M guidelines. The proposed organizational structureor technical support planning and management must be adapted according to

the local context.


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IGURE 1 | Popose Oanizational Stuctue o Tecnical Suppot Plannin

an Manaement

Source: Authors.

Senior management in charge omeeting uel economy goals

Set targets by bus type, datacollection, monitoring and reporting

Employee communicationand rewards

Depot manager

CorporateLevel

BusDepot

andMaintenanceFacility Depot managerDepot manager Depot manager

Set uel economy target orthe bus eet each year

Bus maintenanceand repair o poorperorming buses

Communicate uel economyresults each year to both

employees and public

Drivers training to poorperorming drivers


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The guiding principles and the ndings rom the literature review and inter-views helped to develop a series o recommended actions to overcome theidentied barriers and provide a systematic basis or improving uel econ-

omy through O&M enhancements.This 16-point action plan was designed to cover management unctions, data

collection and analysis, special maintenance or uel economy, maintenance QA/QC unctions, driver training and employee rewards. Each o these actions isbased on best practices in bus maintenance organizations obtained rom the lit-

erature review as well as rom the interviews with the maintenance managemento bus feets. Table 1 summarizes the action plan. Many o these actions (such as

driver training or uel-ecient driving) have been widely adopted; other are un-common (such as targeted maintenance or low uel economy buses). Improvingthe uel economy o the entire feet is not a simple process and will require imple-

mentation o most, i not all, o the actions outlined here.While not all o the elements o the proposed action plan have been imple-

mented at any single location, many key elements have been incorporated inde-pendently at dierent locations. Three case studies, Edmonton (Box 4), Jakarta(Box 5), and Singapore (Ang and Deng 1990), show that uel economy has im-

proved by 5 percent to 15 percent even rom partial implementations o the ac-tions listed in Table 1.

RECOMMENDED PlAN O ACTION

PRINCIPlE I: MANAgEMENT COMMITMENT ANd OWNErShIP

Management eorts directed towards uel economy are necessary and can yield

benets i they become an integral part o core management strategy. Te ollowingthree actions by management are required.

Action 1: Appoint a Senior Executive to e in Charge o ue Economy

A senior executive should be made responsible or meeting uel economy goals.Tis does not imply that this is the only task o the particular executive but it shouldbe one major ocus. Te need or senior management involvement is a key ndingo the Pew study (Prindle 2010). Te key requirements or this step are:

theexecutivemusthaveauthorityoverdriverandmechanicstaatalldepotstoinstall new procedures;

theexecutivemusthaveaknowledgeofO&Mpracticesandunderstandthecurrent data reporting and repair procedures; and


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PRINCIPLES ACTION

I. Management Commitment 1. Appoint a senior executive to be in charge o eet ueland Ownership economy and tie some part o his/her bonus to meeting

uel economy goals.

2. Benchmark and set appropriate uel economy goals by

bus type or each year.

3. Communicate the uel economy results achieved each

year to both employees and the public.

II. Data Collection and Analysis 4. Automate data collection to the extent easible and use

analysis sotware to support maintenance.

5. Set up data QA/QC procedures.

6. Analyze the data or separating the efects o driver, routeand bus related efects on uel economy.

7. Use data to rene periodic maintenance.

III. Maintenance o Low Fuel 8A. Select 10 percent8 o the eet showing the lowest uel

Efcient Buses economy and conduct simple checks at depot.

8B. Conduct detailed checks at central acility i bus passes

step 8A.

8C. Compare pre-repair and post-repair uel economy data on

these buses to estimate program benets.

9. Check repair quality on a random and periodic basis.

10. Obtain mechanic sign-of on repairs or traceability.11. Require independent team audit o repairs across depots.

12. Retrain mechanics and update repair procedures

periodically.

IV. Training o Low-Perorming 13. Train drivers in uel-ecient driving techniques and

Drivers periodically retrain them.

14. Select the 10 percent8 o drivers with the lowest uel

eciency and conduct special additional training.

V. Employee Communications 15. Publicly display the uel economy perormance by driver

and Rewards and bus depot to employees.

16. Reward mechanics at the depot level and driversindividually or exceeding targets.

TAblE 1 | Summa o Actions o Institutin Tansit Bus Maintenance Pactices o

Fuel Econom

8 Percent automatically normalizes or size. Te list must be kept selective to be meaningul.

theexecutivemusthavepartofhis/herbonuseslinkeddirectlytofueleconomygoals set or the organization.

Action 2: benchmark ue Economy and Set Goas

Benchmarking involves comparing properly computed uel economy values or

similar buses across dierent organizations. ypically, this will involve some datacollection eorts as uel economy results are generally not publicly available. Bothgovernment and urban bus transit associations can play a role in making such data


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availableinastandardformat.Benchmarkingtheexistingeetsfueleconomyistherststepindeterminingwherethecurrenteetisrelativetoitspeersandtobeabletoset meaningul goals or uture improvement.

In general, maintenance organizations monitor uel economy closely and take cor-

rective actions against buses and depots that report uel economy that is much worsethan average. Yet, the uel economy unction is integrated with other O&M unctionsand no organization was ound with an executive whose responsibility was to maxi-mize uel economy, with one exception, BXL in Beijing. BXL has a special manage-

ment group ocused on uel economy and has paid considerable attention to this data.In most other companies, there was ocus on low perormance vehicles but no atten-

tion was paid to high uel economy vehicles to see i their perormance could be rep-licated across the feet. In addition, even the ocus on low uel economy vehicles istypically directed towards those buses that are 15+percent worse than average (i.e.,

the outliers). Moreover, no organizations were ound that actually set targets or ueleconomy or either the short term (within one year) or long term.

Variables to be addressed for benchmarking. Bus uel economy is a unction o severalvariables, including bus size (overall length and passenger capacity), engine horsepow-er, engine emissions certication, air conditioner use and ambient temperature, as wellas route-specic drive cycle. Te last item cannot be controlled or across cities so thatthere is an assumption that the average bus uel economy across multiple routes will besimilar.Byselectingbuseetsfromcitiesofsimilarsizeandcongestionlevels,theroutevariability can be minimized but not entirely eliminated. In addition, the comparisonsmust be across:

1. Identical bus size with the same engine. Tis is usually possible since bus sizes are

standardized in most countries and only one to three engine suppliers competewithin a national market.

2. Buses o similar age and emissions certifcation. In most countries, the emissions cer-tication level changes every ew vehicle model years, so that age and certicationlevel go together. It is important to benchmark uel economy or engines with thesame certication level as technology changes to meet emission standards will aectthe comparison otherwise.

3. Fuel economy data collected or the same month. Tis minimizes ambient tempera-ture and air conditioner use related uel economy variability.

Setting targets for the future. argets or uel economy are required to provide acleargoaltoemployees.Oncethereferenceeetisbenchmarkedwithrespecttoitsuel economy relative to comparable buses in other cities o similar size, it will bepossibletosetreasonabletargets.(Whennocomparableeetdataisavailable,thetoprunnermethodoutlinedbelowcanbeused).Ifthereferenceeethasaveragefueleconomythatisatleast5percentworsethanthebesteetinthebenchmarkingcomparison,thebesteetsfueleconomyisareasonabletargetthatcanbeattainedover a two year period to allow time or these procedures to be established andimplemented.

I the reerence feet has the best uel economy or is very close to the best (dier-

ence less than 4 percent), then an alternative method can be used to set targets. In anyfeet, there is a distribution o uel economy rom the worst to the best and, typically,the available data suggests uel economy varies around the average by 15 to 20 percent


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(i.e., i the average is 4 km/L, the variation among buses will be rom 3.2 to 4.8km/L). The average uel economy o the top quartile o buses, which in this ex-

ample case could be 4.6 km/L, is selected as the target or the feet average in theuture. This is reerred to as the top runner method and the target is set at the

level o the average uel economy o the highest 25 percent o buses in the reer-ence feet.

Action 3: Communicate the Resuts o ue Economy Programs

to Empoyees and the Puic

Communicating the results or uel economy perormance relative to targets toemployees and the public at large is necessary so that ailures in execution are nothidden and management continues to make an eort to meet targets. In general,uel economy numbers or buses by bus or route are rarely made public, and thesuccess or ailure o eciency programs is not known outside company manage-

ment. Te lack o inormation also extends to executives who may be unaware othe uel economy o similar buses in other cities. Communicating these dier-encestothepublicatlargewillleadtomoreopeninformationowandcausemanagement to benchmark their organization against the best reported ueleconomy. In addition, it will sensitize policy makers to the impacts o uel andtechnology choice and motivate employees to compete inormally with other cit-ies. Te importance o communications is illustrated by the case o oyota,9 oneo the worlds leading companies in the area o uel economy (see Box 1).

PRINCIPlE II: dATA COLLECTION ANd ANALySIS

Developing any type o uel economy program must rely on a robust trackingand measurement system. Hence collection o bus travel, route, uel use, otheruid (oil, coolant) use andmaintenance data at themost granular leveldaily or each bus and driveris essential. Tere is more variation in the dataacquisition systems and types o analysis than in maintenance proceduresacross bus maintenance organizations. Te use o commercial or purpose-developed sofware to manage and analyze the data is required and most orga-nizations have sofware or maintenance support. Based on the survey o acili-ties, the ollowing bus data collection and analysis related actions are recom-mended.

Action 4: Automate Data Acquisition and Anaysis to the

Maximum Extent

Data analysis. Automating the data collection system or uel economy to bemeasured accurately is recommended but not essential to the success o the ueleconomy program. Bus daily use data, and uel consumption and maintenancerecords are ofen recorded manually and typed into databases, with errors romboth the recording process and the data input process, resulting in less con-dence in the data. With automatic data acquisition systems becoming relativelycheap and reliable, automation is a good step to ensure more complete and ac-

curate data acquisition.

9 Further details are available at www.toyota.com/about/environmentreport2010.


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BOx 1 Settin an Communicatin Taets to Emploees

CASE STUdyTOyOTA

Toyota is one o the most energy-ecient auto manuacturers in the world. Thecompany has an empowered division called the Energy Management Organization

(EMO), which acts as a service organization to the production staf. The EMO has set

up key energy perormance indicators or all aspects o production and runs a

competition called Race or the Greenest. Once a month, shop captains and manag-

ers meet and participate in a race where tiny cars are placed on a board and moved

ahead based on the points earned in the previous month on energy use eciency.

The Race or the Greenest competition epitomizes Toyotas energy strategy. Energy

perormance indicators are reported regularly, and the process engages the whole

organization rom senior management to shop staf. There is a certain amount o un

in these monthly gatherings and it is not just about the perormance numbers, it is

about how employees see themselves. The Toyota system creates a culture that

engenders employee pride and ingenuity or collective gain. What sets Toyota apart

rom the average company are the added levels o data monitoring and reporting.

Shops captains have access to energy use data at very disaggregate levels that

enable them to look deeply at energy use. Shop captains know they must pay

attention to this inormation to meet their key perormance indicator targets. I their

monthly perormance starts deviating signicantly rom the targets, they can request

EMO staf or additional assistance. Individuals are encouraged to develop and submit

kaizen (continuous improvement) ideas to the EMO system and the database is

available to Toyota employees worldwide.

Source: Prindle 2010.

While many developing country bus feets and smaller bus feets around the worldstill use manual data acquisition systems, the trend to automatic data acquisition isnow occurring on a global basis. In most developed countries, ully automated data

acquisition systems are now being used as part o the smart garage system o busmaintenance management. At the most basic level, data is automatically gatheredonce the bus enters the garage. The bus is recognized by the system through a bar

code, and the bus electronic control system automatically downloads the daily traveland speeds, as well as any system problems through on-board diagnostics. The uel

ller system also reports the uel level data to the computer system. Maintenance-related items, such as oil and coolant checks and part replacements, are entered man-ually. More advanced systems communicate with the vehicle continuously and the

Automatic Vehicle Location system can track vehicles while obtaining real time sys-tem perormance inormation. Such systems can spot breakdowns as they happen or

predict the possible occurrence and reroute the vehicle back to the garage beore seri-ous damage occurs.

Data analysis sofware. Dataanalysissowareisrequiredtointegratealleetmainte-nance activities, and is an essential counterpart to good data collection. Te sofware


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can also be used to track uel economy at the route and bus type level. Manyprograms are available commercially and automated maintenance managementsofware has a proven track record o improving maintenance quality, loweringcosts and increasing bus availability (Box 2).

The benets o this action include:

automatedtrackingofallfuelingandrepairevents; automatedschedulingofbusesformaintenanceandrepair;

partsorderingandinventorycontroltomaximizepartsavailability,minimiz-ing down time or repairs;

identication of low fuel economy or low reliability buses for additionalrepairs; and

automatedgenerationofreportsforseniormanagementtoprovidenearrealtime tracking o important feet perormance variables.

Action 5: Set Up Specic Data Quaity Assurance Systems orue Economy Variaes

Error checking the data is a key requirement or a robust system, but many loca-tions do not have specic data QA/QC procedures related to uel economy, unlesseetmanagement sowareautomaticallysignalsdataerrors.To improveeetuel economy, the 10 percent o buses with the lowest uel economy must be se-lected or additional maintenance. Since uel economy is computed rom twovariables, uel use per day and miles per day, the error rate to ensure that at least

BOx 2 Benets o Maintenance Manaement Sotwae

Commercial maintenance management (MM) sotware is now widely used by bus

eets and truck eets in the US and Europe. Several surveys have been undertaken to

understand the benets o implementing such sotware, and studies o transit eets

reported 70 percent o responding eets were very pleased with the benets. Other

studies o bus and truck eets have also ound similar results. A survey conducted by

the Aberdeen group ound demonstrated cost savings by 80 percent o organizations

that switched to eet management systems. In addition, the research revealed:

13percentimprovementinvehicleutilizationduetoreducedbreakdownrates;

11percentreductioninmaintenancecosts;

12percentincreaseinserviceorganizationprotability;and

improvementsindrivercompliancewithdefectreporting.

However, there are ew reports o specic uel economy improvements as most MM

sotware is geared towards reducing breakdowns and reducing service costs. The

State o Utah reported a 2.5 percent decrease in uel consumption, but specic uel

economy gures or total miles driven were not reported.

Source: US Department o Transportation Fact Sheets (undated).


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9 o 10 buses selected are correctly identied requires each variable to have er-ror rates o less than 1 percent maximum. It is imperative to have a QA proce-dure or data that holds errors to less than 1 percent o data recorded, and thisis particularly true or manual data acquisition systems. Te data elds required

or the analysis and preerred and maximum error rates are presented in able2. Te preerred error rates are those commonly used by maintenance manage-ment sofware sold commercially.

Action 6: Specia Anaysis or ue Eciency Data

Manybusorganizationsrelyoncommercialeetmaintenancemanagementsystemsthatautomaticallyagunder-performingbuseswhilealsosignalingthe need or periodic maintenance events, printing out the specic mainte-nanceactionsrequiredandtrackingthemaintenanceplan.Anumberofeetmanagement sofware suppliers oer maintenance management solutions

thatcanalsobecustomizedtosomeextenttomeettheeetsrequirements.Others rely on specialized in-house programs to provide similar unctions.Field interviews revealed that most programs only report average uel econo-mybybus,andonlyafewagthosethatfalloutsideofarelativelywidebando acceptable uel economy values. Te sofware must be capable o identiy-ing the lowest uel economy buses afer accounting or other variables aect-ing uel economy. It is well known that bus uel economy depends on the bustype, route characteristics, driver and bus passenger load, which is why a rela-tively wide range o uel economy alls in the acceptable range. Te simple

PREFERRED MAXIMUMVARIABLE DESCRIPTION CHECK ERROR RATE ERROR RATE

Bus Number Unique bus identier Corresponds to in-service bus 0


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averaging method to identiy low uel economy buses and drivers requires theollowing:

determiningtheaveragefueleconomybyroute; determiningtheaveragefueleconomyofeachbus(andbustypeifmanydif-

erent types o buses are used on the same route) and each driver; comparingthebusanddriverspecicfueleconomytotherouteaverageby

bus type or the route that each bus and driver is assigned to; and selectingthe10percentofbuseswiththelowestfueleconomyrelativetothe

route/bus type average.

Tis method requires that buses assigned to only one or two routes and drivers beassigned largely to the same bus every day. When the routes and drivers assignedto each bus are dierent every day, the separation o the individual bus, driver,and route eects cannot usually be accomplished by simple averages. A moresophisticated approach is required to adjust or bus type, route and driver eects.

Multiple regression technique is an option to perorm such analysis.11

Action 7: Use Data to Rene Periodic Maintenance Intervas

Rening maintenance intervals is a useul but not an essential step in maximiz-ing uel economy. In general, maintenance organizations adopt manuacturer-recommended maintenance intervals but rarely modiy them to suit local con-ditions. Te data can be used to extend some maintenance intervals whileshortening others or make the maintenance a unction o bus age, with moreperiodic inspections or older buses. Warranty requirements may make theseintervalsinexiblefortherst5yearstypically,butintervalsonolderbusescan

be adjusted.One method or determining maintenance intervals is to examine the mean

time between ailures (MTBF)12 or older buses and determine which compo-nents are ailing at a rate aster than their service intervals. Those with low mean

time between ailures can be serviced more requently. Conversely, manuactur-ers usually over-speciy maintenance to provide a cushion against unexpectedailures and it is possible that MTBF data will indicate some components need

less requent service, saving some maintenance costs.

PRINCIPlE III: MAINTENANCE OF LOW FUEL EFFICIENT BUSES

Overview of two-step special maintenance program. Te identication and re-pair o low uel economy buses is as important as driver training in maximizingeetfueleconomy.Onceabushasbeenidentiedasalowfueleconomyunit,aplan must be incorporated to ensure its perormance returns to average or better.Some simple steps need to be taken rst at the depot and i these do not solve theproblem, a second tier o more complex steps (at a central or more specializedrepair acility) may be required. A general checklist applicable to most diesel andCompressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered buses that should be incorporated

11 Fleet managers interested in this method can reer to Section 4.3.4 (ESMAP 2011).12 MBF is the average requency with which a product ails, the average time between ailures or the length o time

a bus component is expected to work without ailure. It is also an indicator o system reliability that is calculated

rom known ailure rates o various system components.


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into the program is provided below. A key recommendation is that repair proce-dures should be documented in writing and provided to all mechanics as a stan-dard operating practice. Tis will ensure consistent repair procedures, and allowor uture updates as required.

Action 8A: Tier I Checks Impemented at the Depot

Te two-tier checklist requires that low uel economy buses be subjected to therst-tier o inspection (and repair i necessary) at the depot and its uel economyrechecked. Te 19 tier I repair checks (see Annex 1) do not require a maintenancehoist or inspection pit and can be easily perormed by junior or mid-level me-chanics.

The set o rst steps have been compiled rom the actual checks recommend-ed, but some may not be applicable to specic technologies, such as automatic

transmission equipped vehicles. In general, these checks will eliminate easily cor-

rectable deects that can hurt uel economy by creating an extra load on the en-gine through additional riction. I no problems are ound in the tier I repair set,the bus should be sent to the centralized or more capable acility (pit mainte-nance) and the more detailed checks perormed per Step 8B. Unless there is

visible smoke, the detailed maintenance can be coordinated with the periodicmaintenance date o removal rom service.

Action 8b: Tier II Checks at the Centra Maintenance aciity

Te 14 checks compiled in Annex 2 rom manuacturer-recommended checklistsshould be implemented with trained mechanics. Te specic method to carry outthe above generic inspection items is unique to each engine/bus combination butall o the above are standard items or maintenance and the methods documentedin maintenance manuals.


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These checklists are indicative only and may not be comprehensive or someunique engine types. In general, it is anticipated that the tier I and tier II checklists

will bring all buses into compliance with uel economy requirements. However,local conditions may also impose special problems, such as salt corrosion in

snowy locations, or engine overheating in very hot locations. The list should bemodied using the knowledge o local mechanics as appropriate.

Action 8C: Compare Pre-repair and Post-repair ue Economy Data

Once the buses go through the repairs in step 8A and /or 8B, the next monthsdata will provide inormation on the post-repair uel economy value. Te ueleconomy value should be compared to the pre-repair value and the percent im-provementusedastheindicatorforeetbenets.

Maintenance oversight and QA/QC.All maintenance organizations have a serieso checks on mechanics work as part o the QA/QC procedure on repairs per-

ormed. Mechanics are typically graded by seniority, with the Chie or Supervi-sory mechanic checking the work o all mechanics on a regular or intermittentbasis. The use o an independent team to check the work o all mechanics is less

common but also used, especially or large feets.

Action 9: Require Mechanics to Sign-of on Repairs

Mechanics should sign-o on the repairs they perorm. Tis step is very useul totrack repair o chronic deects that recur in the eld. In this case, individual me-chanics associated with repeat ailures can be identied and their repair practicesmonitored careully. Te ollowing actions are required:

emaintenanceorganizationmustmaintainalogbookforeachbusdocu-menting maintenance actions.

Aereverymaintenanceaction,thekeyrepairsperformedshouldbeidenti-ed and the mechanic perorming the repair must be identied.

emechanicmustsignoontherepairornoteanyissueswiththerepairthat could not be solved.

Mechanics not ollowing procedures with resulting ailures and low uel economyshould be retrained or disciplined, as appropriate. In small organizations, it maybe possible to inormally identiy which mechanic serviced which bus, but even

here, the sign-o requirement could make mechanics more careul.

Action 10: Institute Random and Periodic Checks o Repairs

Supervisory mechanics or the Chie Mechanic should institute a series o ran-dom and periodic checks on repair quality, including the ollowing specicactions:

Supervisorymechanicsshouldfocusonrepairsofchronicfailurestoimproveperormance by checking the repair afer the mechanic has nished, ensuringadherence to standard operating procedure. Tis could also result in changesi better procedures can be developed.

Supervisorymechanicsshouldconductregularchecksofallmechanics,butsurprise checks may also reveal mechanics who may be taking unspeciedshort cuts.


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Mechanicswithhigherthanaveragerepeat failure ratesshouldbecheckedmore requently.

Action 11: Deveop an Independent QA/QC Team

An external QA/QC team should check mechanic perormance and repair qual-ity to ensure uniormity in procedures among depots. Tis team should reviewthe repair procedures used, the requency o repeat ailures and the internal QA/QC procedure employed by the supervisory mechanic. As such, the independentteam reviews procedures, not repairs. Te outside team has been ound to behelpul in preventing internal collusion between mechanics in a depot and also inmaking procedures consistent across the various repair depots in a large organi-zation (Box 3). Such teams also help knowledge transer as some mechanics mayhave ound specic repair methods or part improvements that help reducechronic or periodic problems, and the independent team can also act as a con-

solidator o the knowledge base or the organization.

Action 12: Update Procedures and Periodicay Retrain Mechanics

Mechanic skills need to be updated periodically. Both vehicle and diagnostictechnology continues to change with the advent o electronic controls, which areonly now being oered in many developing countries. Sending mechanics to spe-cial retraining classes not only helps mechanics adapt to changing requirements,but also provides an opportunity or inormal exchange o best practices in theindustry. Procedures or repair also need to be periodically reviewed and updatedtoreectindustrybestpractices.

BOx 3 Benets o Inepenent QA/QC Teams

In the United States, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

operates a eet o about 1,500 buses across several counties and has multiple garage

acilities that operate and service diferent makes and models o buses, including CNG,

diesel and clean diesel buses. Over the last ew years, WMATA has made a large efort

to standardize maintenance procedures across diferent acilities by having written,

detailed, step-by-step procedures that identiy the checks, repairs and tools to be

used, which are reerred to as Standard Operating Procedures. Historically, they have

ound that individual garages develop their own methods to deal with problem repairs

which may not necessarily reect the best practice. By having an independent system-

wide audit team, WMATA has been able to standardize procedures across the entire

maintenance system and ensure that procedures are strictly ollowed. The result is that

maintenance costs have been reduced while MTBF has been improving or a given

technology type (some new technologies have higher ailure rates which afects the

behavior o the average rate). A side benet has been that mechanics moving rom

one location to another nd identical tools, procedures and practices in place.

Source: General Manager (J.Hiott), Bus Maintenance Operations, Central Baldensburg Facility, WMATA.


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PRINCIPlE IV: TrAININg OF LOW-PErFOrMINg drIVErS

Drivers behavior is an important component o uel economy on the road, anddriver training has been implemented by a number o urban transit authorities.Te near-universal use o driver training is currently driven by legal requirementsto ensure saety or the general public, but uel economy driving can also be eas-ily incorporated into courses that teach sae driving. O course, all driver trainingcourses stress saety as the highest priority and there is no suggestion that saetymust be compromised or uel economy. As a result, the need or such trainingwith periodic retraining is recommended to ensure the drivers maintain bestpractices (Boxes 4 and 5).

Action 13: Core Principes o ue Ecient Driving

Fuel ecient driving is a technique that any driver can use and must be taught toall drivers. Te basic steps o uel-ecient driving are:

cuttingoutunnecessaryidling; stayingwithinthespeedlimitandmaintainingengineRPMatoptimumlev-

els; acceleratingandbrakinggently; usingvehiclemomentumtomaintaincruisespeed; avoidingpumpingtheacceleratorpedal;and anticipatingtracaheadtominimizehardbrakingandacceleration.

Driver training programs have been established commercially and the use o ahuman trainer and a training video is common. Periodic retraining is required to

ensure that drivers do not slip back into inecient practices.There are a number o commercial and government-sponsored courses that

teach uel-ecient driving or eco-driving or heavy duty vehicles. These courses

BOx 4 Impact o Bus dives Tainin on Fuel Econom in Emonton, Canaa

The Fuel Sense driver training program was implemented in 2000 or Edmonton City

Transit. All the drivers were trained over a period o 10 months. A comprehensive

review in 2003 ound that uel economy had improved by 5.5 percent, and the drivers

exhibited very good retention o the driving techniques rom year to year. The

start-up costs were US$60,000 and annual costs were estimated at US$45,000. One

o the key lessons learned in Fuel Smart was how easily the entire process can be

transerred, and how the improvements, though simple, needed to be brought

together in a practical way. Other lessons learned were the need to coordinate

training with workloads so that drivers are not tired when they come to training. A

separate but important lesson was the need to communicate results regularly. Drivers

benet rom ollow-up communications and are more motivated to continue lessons

i they are appraised o the results. Management also needs to be kept inormed to

support the growth o the program and its applications to new areas.

Source: Transport Canada 2004.


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have been developed or city driving and courses or transit bus drivers also teachaspects o bus rider saety and public saety. For example, the United Kingdoms

Sae and Fuel Ecient Driving (SAFED)program13 incorporates all o the keyeatures required in a good driver training program.14 The main aspects o the

course are a short classroom review o the steps or saety and uel eciency, ol-lowed by a simulator driving course (i a simulator is available) or instructionalvideo, ollowed by on-road training with a proessional instructor, who monitors

driver behavior (Boxes 4 and 5). The on-road driver training is the most impor-tant component o the course as most drivers are generally aware o good driving

practices but may have developed many inecient habits that they may not evenbe aware o, which typically include clutch riding, pumping the accelerator pedaland improper gear shit. The proessional instructor can spot these habits and

show the driver how to correct them.

Action 14: Retraining the worst Perorming Drivers

It is important to identiy and send the worst 10 percent o a depots drivers interms o uel economy or retraining. Te recognition o poor drivers based on

BOx 5 Bus Inspection/Maintenance an dives Tainin in Jakata, Inonesia

In Jakarta, nine bus companies developed their own internal I/M program. The program

checked the vehicle or engine malunctions and excessive smoke and measured

exhaust opacity.

In order to be successul, the program also contained a large educational program.

The education aimed at raising awareness among technicians on how to conduct a

proper I/M program. The education also included instruction to bus drivers on sae and

uel saving driving practices.

Over 13,000 buses were tested in 2001 and 2002, with 89 technicians and 1372

drivers trained. Measures identied through the inspection program that could be

easily xed were cleaning air lters, adjusting uel injection timing and injection nozzle

pressure and calibrating the uel injection pump. In some cases, air lters and uel

injection nozzles had to be replaced.

This program achieved a 30 percent reduction o diesel soot and a 5 percent

decrease in uel consumption through improved maintenance practices. An additional

10 percent decrease in uel consumption was attained through improved driving

methods. Approximately a third o the vehicles ailed the inspection but over 80

percent o them could be repaired with only minor additional cost.

The Jakarta program started out with just two bus companies on a voluntary basis

but, by the end o the program, it grew to nine bus companies as the economic

benets became more apparent.

Source: UNEP 2009.

13 www.reightbestpractice.org.uk/uel-ecient-drivers-handbook.

14 Annex 7 provides an overview o some popular programs; the SAFED classroom topics covered and Driver

Handbook contents are listed in Annex 7.3 (ESMAP 2011).


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data analysis (as described in Action 6) and their retraining can lead to signicantimprovements in uel economy. Drivers who do not improve their driving even a-ter repeated counseling can be subject to disciplinary action or discharge. Tesetypes o actions are required to motivate all drivers to take the program seriously,

and are also recommended or incorporation into a driver education program.

PRINCIPlE V: EMPLOyEE COMMUNICATIONS ANd rEWArdS

Motivating employees is a key part o any strategy to create a culture o uel econo-my and examples in industry have shown that management and employee motiva-tion, not technology, explains much o the dierence between uel-ecient anduel-inecient operations. It is recommended that awards be provided at three dis-tinct levels. At the system-wide level, the executive in charge o uel economy can berewarded or meeting system uel economy goals and targets as suggested in Action

1. Rewards should also be instituted at the depot level, and at the individual levelper steps 15 and 16 described below.

Action 15: Communicate ue Economy Data

Te weekly or monthly average o the uel economy perormance o the top 10drivers at each depot must be posted at a visible location where all employees cansee this inormation. In addition, the average uel economy by bus type and depotshould also be posted across all depots so that each depots employees can beaware o their relative perormance. In-house communications in the orm oposters at a highly visible location have been ound to be very eective by theAndhra Pradesh State ransport Corporation in India. Providing inormation toemployees on uel economy perormance by publicly posting this data is key tomotivating individuals to perorm well. A second and closely related aspect re-quires both managers and employees to maintain awareness o how well they aredoing relative to others in the group. Tis type o inormation sets up riendlycompetition or employee participation in implementing the recommended ac-tions towards uel economy.

Action 16: Mechanic and Driver Aards

Awards or mechanics are recommended or the depot with the best uel econo-my perormance. Good maintenance is a key aspect o uel economy peror-

mance, but it is dicult to reward individual mechanics or uel economy peror-mance as they will perorm repairs on many buses that may be randomly assignedto them, afer the buses have had a breakdown or have been selected or addi-tional maintenance. Given this, the depot mechanics can be jointly rewarded ormeeting uel economy goals and ailure rate goals that are specic to the make/model o the buses housed and serviced at the particular depot. Note that suc-cessul implementation o this step relies on proper setting o uel economy goalsat the bus type or depot specic levels.

Drivers should be rewarded or good perormance in both saety and ueleconomy. Currently, drivers are rewarded by many transit systems or sae driving

by having an accident-ree and consumer complaint-ree record, but rewards oruel economy perormance are relatively rare, oten because it has been dicultto separate driver perormance rom that o the bus (model, age) and route (see


27/44


BOx 6 difcult o Implementin rewas o Fuel Econom Peomance

Transit bus operators have tried to institute awards or uel economy perormance

with mixed success. In some agencies, the awards had to be withdrawn as they caused

resentment among drivers and mechanics. Since uel economy is also bus- and route-

dependent, the drivers and mechanics believed that winners o the award unairly

benetted rom having the best buses or the least-demanding routes, and these

perceptions had a basis in act. Few transit agencies subject the uel economy data to

the level o analyses required to untangle these efects, and the data were also not

subjected to rigorous quality checks.

In agencies where such awards have been accepted and are popular, the data on

uel economy is adjusted to the route level. More importantly, data is openly available,

and drivers can see their own perormance relative to other drivers on similar routes.

This illustrates the synergy between the diferent steps recommendedopen commu-

nications, ensuring data quality and perorming more advanced data analysis make it

possible to airly reward employees and create a culture o employee pride in uel

economy perormance.

Source: Interviews with bus eet managers.

15 It is dened as the simple average o uel economy across all records over a given time period. For example, bus no.

10 has 44 records in the database, the simple average uel economy is the average across all 44 records.

Box 6). To successully provide driver awards or uel economy, the ollowingare required:

driversperformanceratingsmustbeadjustedbasedontherouteandbus; theadjustedperformanceforalldriversmustbepubliclyposted;and theadjustmentfactorsandtheirfairnesscanbeevaluatedbythedriversso

that they will accept them over time.

Te simple averaging method15 by route is useul i buses and drivers are typi-callyallocatedtothesameroutesmostofthetime.Clearly,statisticaluctuationsin uel economy leads to some uncertainty in the estimates o uel economy rank-ing, and to avoid problems, the top 10 percent o drivers should be recognizedand rewarded.


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Validation testing o these recommendations took place over 10 weeks,starting at the end o January 2011. As a result o the short time rame, test-ing was not possible against the longer range recommendations in actions

4, 7 and 12; actions 15 and 16 (employee rewards or uel economy) were already inplace at APSRC. Field testing was done in three Indian cities: Hyderabad and Vi-jayawada with APSRC, and Mysore with Karnataka State Road ransport Corpo-ration (KSRC).

Overall, the testing showed that the recommended approach could be imple-

mented without signicant changes in operating structures, capital investment,or upront preparation. The data on bus uel economy, though manually col-

lected, was o reasonably good quality and permitted the identication o lowuel economy buses and drivers. At each depot, approximately 10 buses wereidentied each month as low uel economy buses, relative to the same bus tech-

nology types operating on the same routes. In addition, approximately 20 driverswere identied as low uel economy drivers although the selection o drivers ap-

pears to have been based on low absolute uel economy without adjustments orroute variations. The buses identied were sent or special diagnostics and repairas recommended in action 8; low uel economy drivers were sent or retraining

on good driving practices.Data was collected rom three APSRTC bus depots16 between January and

March 2011, totaling about 60 buses and 120 drivers. Pre- and post-repair peror-

mance o buses and pre- and post-training perormance o drivers was moni-tored to estimate uel economy benets. Mechanics at acilities were competent

in perorming the required diagnostics and repairs, and they successully ol-

lowed the recommended sequence o repairs recommended in (see Annexes 1and 2). The uel economy results rom the data collected over a limited time pe-

riod or the repaired subset o buses and the retrained subset o drivers in AP-SRTC showed considerable variability in the level o improvement in uel econo-my observed, which was to be expected since the problems dier rom bus to bus

and driver to driver.

RESUlTS ROM IElD TESTING

16 Bharkatpura (BKP) depot in Hyderabad; Governorpet1 (GVP1) and Governorpet2 (GVP2) depots in

Vijayawada.


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TEST RESUlTS ROM bUS MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

The average data on uel economy showed positive and signicant uel economy

improvements. Figure 2 shows the data by type o bus technology on the ob-served improvements rom repair buses in the Bharkatpura bus depot in Hyder-abad city; the average uel economy benets vary rom about 6 to 9 percent.17 The

benet o repairing low-perorming buses in terms o uel economy appears to bea unction o vehicle age. Newer diesel buses (4 to 7 years old) appear to obtain

about 4 to 5 percent improvement in uel economy based on the buses that weretested in Mysore (ESMAP 2011). Older diesel buses (7 to 14 year old) appear toobtain a benet o 7 to 8 percent uel economy improvement based on the data

rom Hyderabad.

TEST RESUlTS ROM DRIVER TRAINING

Driver training programs incorporate most international best practices or uel-ecient driving, and the on-road training, in particular, appeared to be very wellsuited to help drivers acing local driving conditions. During the eld validation,drivers were identied on the basis o low absolute uel economy, not on route-adjusted uel economy. Even better results could be obtained by changing driverselection to be on a route-adjusted uel economy basis. Drivers are highly moti-vated by the public display o driver specic uel economy inormation, and theaward or good uel economy perormance inculcates driver pride in their peror-mance even though the monetary value o the award is small. Figure 3 shows the

30

25

30

15

10

5

0

5

10

15JanFeb

EURO 1 and 2

high low average

Diesel Bus, BKPT depot, Hyderabad

%change

inuelefciency

EURO 2 Turbo

FebMar JanFeb FebMar

IGURE 2 | Pecent Fuel Econom Impovements om

repai o Buses at te Bakatpua depot in heaba

17 Results presented here are buses that were tested in APSRC depots only. Details o the test results with KSRC

buses are presented in the detailed study report (ESMAP 2011).


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benets rom driver training in Hyderabad and Vijayawada, with an average ueleconomy improvement in the 5 to 10 percent range.

Due to the many dierent issues aecting uel economy, it is dicult to makedenitive statements in the absence o a careul controlled study, but the limiteddata suggests that the combination o driver training and organizational ocus on

uel economy could provide uel economy benets in the 7 to 15 percent rangeor organizations where uel economy has not previously been a ocus.

SCAlING UP O TEST RESUlTS TO THE CITY bUS lEET

Te uel economy benets o bus maintenance and driver training were extrapo-latedfortheentirebuseetofHyderabad3,290vehiclesintotalusingbaselineuel economy data obtained beore the start o testing (ESMAP 2011). For mainte-nance, results were extrapolated on the assumption that all buses perorming 2percent or more below average and would be eventually repaired over the course ooneyear.eresultsindicatedthattheeet-widebenetfromrepairofolderbuseswould be 3 percent while the benet o repair o newer buses would be 2.1 percent.eeet-widebenetsofdrivertrainingwereestimated,usingasimilarmethod,tobe 2.7 percent (Box 7).

COST-bENEIT ANAlYSIS

edegreeofbenetobtainedattheeetlevelfromimplementingastrongfueleconomy program depends greatly on certain actors:

agecompositionofthebuseet; technologyofbusmaintenance;

high low average

40

30

20

10

0

10

20JanFeb

GVPT1 depot GVPT2 depot BKPT depot

Bus Drivers in Vijayawada and Hyderabad

%changeinuelefcienc

y

FebMar JanFeb JanFebFebMar

IGURE 3 | Pecent Fuel Econom Impovement o Cit Bus dives om

Tainin in heaba an Vijaawaa


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pre-existingorganizationalemphasisonfueleconomy;and characteristicsoftheroutesinthecity.

o control or this, the costs and benets o putting the recommended plan o ac-tion in place were estimated or a city o 10 depots, with each depot housing 100buses, using cost data collected rom APSRC. able 3 presents the benet to cost(B/C) ratio o implementing o most o the 16 recommended actions or dierentdepoteetsizes.

For a typical depot with 100 buses, the monthly cost or implementing allrecommended measures was estimated at US$2,767. With the estimated range o

improvement at 4.8 percent in newer buses to 5.7 percent in older buses, the uelsavings alone would range rom US$5,376 to US$6,384 per month respectively,making the program very cost eective, with a B/C ratio o 1.94 to 2.31. This does

not include the value o co-benets associated with reduced vehicle emissionsand saety.

BOx 7 results om Fiel Testin

The 16-point action given in Table 1 was applied by the city transit managers in

APSRTC and KSRTC. While APSRTC implemented the actions at the Hyderabad and

Vijayawada bus depots, KSRTC deployed them at the Mysore bus depots. Comparing

the uel economy data beore and ater and repair o the 10 percent most underper-

orming buses and training o the 10 percent poorest perorming drivers revealed the

ollowing results:

Maintenancepractices:Euro2dieselbuses(4-7yearsold)appeartoobtainan

average benet o about 4-5 percent improvement in uel economy based on buses

that were tested in Mysore. Euro 0/1 diesel buses (7-14 years old) appear to obtain

a benet o 7-8 percent improvement based on the test results rom Hyderabad.

Surprisingly, even the new CNG buses (


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CONDITIONS O APPlICAbIlITY

It is important to be specic to the conditions under which this approach is mosteective. Te B/C ratio becomes smaller as the number o buses at a depot de-creases. Tis is due to the xed costs o a spare bus and a specialized mechanic andhelper or uel economy related repairs. Te results o the B/C cost ratio analysissuggests that the program is near break-even (i.e., a B/C ratio close to 1) when thenumber o buses at a depot is around 50. Since these costs are computed or India,where labor costs are quite low, the analysis suggests that the program be imple-mented when the minimum number o buses exceeds 70 to 100, depending on lo-

cal labor cost and uel cost, to ensure a avorable B/C ratio. Such an O&M programmay not be cost eective in a developed country setting where labor costs are high.

The ollowing other conditions would also be a pre-requisite or implementa-tion o the recommended approach:

anexistingmaintenancefacilitythatconductsmostperiodicmaintenanceandcan conduct the majority o common repairs in-house;

accesstoamorespecializedrepairfacilitycapableofengineandfuelinjectionsystem rebuild that can be either in-house or supplier based, to realize the ulluel economy potential o the program;

thecapabilitytotraindriversinfuel-ecientdrivingateitheranin-houseorat

a commercial driving school; and

NUMBER OF BUSES

COST BREAKDOWN AND BENEFIT FROM FUEL SAVINGS 50 100 150 200

Fxd Costs

Senior Executive 178 178 178 178

Data Analyst 667 667 667 667

Computer/Sotware 56 56 56 56

Periodic Audit 1 11 1 11 1 11 1 11

Stp Varabl Cost

Special mechanic/Helper 667 667 1,333 1,333

AmortizationSpare Bus 356 356 356 711

Mechanic Retraining 67 67 133 133

Varabl Cost

Driver Training 333 667 1,000 1,333

TOTAL COST 2,433 2,767 3,833 4,522

Bft

Fuel Saved Newer Buses (Liters) [4.8 percent] 64 128 192 256

BeneFiT (Newer Busessavings in uel cost) 2,688 5,376 8,064 10,752

B/C Ratonwr Buss 1.10 1.94 2.10 2.38

Fuel Saved Older Buses (Liters) [5.7 percent] 76 152 228 304

BeneFiT (Older Busessavings in uel cost) 3,192 6,384 9,576 12,768

B/C RatoOldr Buss 1.31 2.31 2.50 2.82

Source: Authors.

TAblE 3 | Cost-Benet Analsis: Estimate Montl Values in US$, Mac 2011(om APSrTC ata)


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anagecompositionofthebuseetsuchthatasignicantfractionoftheeetisolder than ve years.18

While the above conditions may suggest limited applicability, traditional city busoperatorsindevelopingcountriesnormallyhaveeetsrangingfromabout30to1,000vehicles; themajorityofeetsprobablyconsistofbetween300and600buses (Iles 2005). Many medium to large cities in the developing world have buseetsofseveralhundredtoseveralthousandbuses,andbusesareusuallyretainedor 12 to 15 years. In most o the cities in Asia, Middle East and North Arica, alarge share o urban public transport services are provided by medium or largesize (private and state-owned) bus operators. Such organizations also usuallyhave the capability o conducting all periodic maintenance at depots, even i thedepot level maintenance acility is contractor-run. Access to more intensive repairand engine rebuild is typically available at either a centralized workshop or at thedealerships o the bus manuacturer. Driver training or saety is also common and

a legal requirement in many countries. raining schools are usually available, al-though a uel economy component may need to be added.

In some countries, especially in Latin America, urban bus services are con-

tracted out to numerous small operators who service one or two routeswith a small number (1 to 10) o buses. In such cases, removing a bus rom arevenue generating route to check or uel economy is not cost eective and may

involve penalties or not providing the requency o service required under thecontract. Unless small contractor feets are pooled, some o the recommenda-

tions in this report may not be applicable to such small feets, although drivertraining would still be warranted.

18. Te analysis reveals smaller benets in uel economy or newer buses (ESMAP 2011).


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In many cities around the developing world, buses are the most common ormo urban transit and vehicle feets are a signicant investment or transit or-

ganizations. Due to the popularity o bus transit, authorities continue to try

to develop ecient, clean and aordable urban bus systems that can maintain oreven improve total mobility, even as incomes grow and cities expand.

However, in most cities, public transit has to be subsidized to make it aord-able, and the nancial problems o most governments worldwide are causing

signicant changes in transit systems. In the past 20 years, transit systems in manycities have changed rom a government owned enterprise to a nancially con-strained municipal enterprise with emphasis on cost control, innovation and

competition. Usually, the nancial position o bus feet operators is weak andmay not allow rapid bus replacement to upgrade the feet to new and more uel-ecient vehicles. And in developing countries, the cost o uel is a relatively large

raction o total operating costs, particularly when labour costs are low.As this Guidance Note demonstrates, there are ways o improving feet-wide

uel economy, saety, and the overall eciency o transit systems at relatively lowcost. Good O&M practices are necessary to achieve optimal uel economy andlow emissions and can reduce signicant expenditures on uel, reeing up re-

sources or improved services. Eective implementation o drivers training pro-grams has shown to improve uel economy by 5 to 10 percent, with the greatestbenets obtained through actual on-road training with a proessional driving

inspector. The identication and repair o low uel economy buses is second onlyto driver training in maximizing feet uel economy. The combination o driver

training, bus maintenance and organizational ocus could provide uel economy

benets in the 7 to 15 percent range or organizations where uel economy hasnot been a priority.

The O&M practices recommended here were ound to be cost eective with aminimum feet size o about 70 to 100 buses in a city with an existing mainte-

nance acility and low labor costs. Energy-ecient O&M practices must be care-ully planned and must be appropriate to the size, resources, and culture o eachcity bus company to be successul.

While virtually every bus operator uses a basic checklist to conduct O&Mpractices, many smaller operators simply do not have the time or sta to develop

CONClUSION ANDRECOMMENDATIONS


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instructions or other essential maintenance and repair activities. Fortunately, thetransit community has a great deal o collective knowledge concerning practices,

and the community can reely exchange this knowledge without the competitivepressures typically ound in other industries.

This Guidance Note is one step in the direction o giving city bus operatorsequal access to that collective knowledge. This note is targeted at two levels o us-ers: 1) managers responsible or implementing O&M practices at bus depots ormaintenance workshops; and 2) senior management o transport corporations,

who are responsible or making the strategic investment decisions required toenhance uel economy gains. Active and continuing support by senior manage-

ment, as well as driver training and motivation, is critical to the success o energy-ecient O&M eorts.

I transit companies are to see gains in eciency over the long term, however,

a number o changes need to take place. Operating companies should value ueleconomy as a perormance indicator at least as highly as feet utilization. Targetsshould be set or uel economy perormance, and senior executives must be ac-

countable or meeting those targets. Depot managers and mechanics must knowthat perorming the extra maintenance needed to make a poorly perorming ve-

hicle more uel ecient will not hurt them in their jobs. Data collection must bemade systematic to monitor uel economy, and combined with a transparent sys-tem o assessing perormance. Finally, the route-specic variability o uel econ-

omy must be taken into account. Fuel economy monitoring systems should ac-count or this variability, and gains should be measured across time rather than

across routes. Rewards could be or uel economy improvements rather than ab-solute perormance metrics.

Governments could play a key role by requiring publicly owned bus operatingcompanies to take the lead in implementing the sort o recommendations laidout in this Guidance Note, and showing the way or private operators. National-level rewards or uel economy would give due recognition and visibility that

would motivate companies to adopt the best O&M practices. Similar action byassociations o bus companies would also go a long way in motivating action in

this regard. Governments could also set up high-quality driver training acilitiesthat would serve the needs o multiple operators. This would be particularly use-ul in countries where midsize operating companies dominate and no single

company has the resources to invest in such training inrastructure.


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Ang, B.W. and Deng, C.C. 1990. The Eects o Maintenance on the Fuel Eciency o

Public Buses.Journal o Energy, March 1990.

Andhra Pradesh State Road Transportation Corporation (APSRTC). 2010. City Bus Fleet

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Jacobes, G.D., Maunder, D.A.C., and Fouracre, P.R. 1981.A Comparison o Bus Operations

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in India: Overwhelming Needs but Limited Resources.Journal o Public Transporta-

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rEFErENCES


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United Nations Energy Programme (UNEP). 2009. Cleaning up Urban Bus Fleets with a

Focus on Developing and Transition Countries. United Nations Environment Pro-

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United States Department o Transportation (USDOT). 2007.Maintenance Management

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