A handful of bus manufacturers are now selling or taking orders to deliver hybrid buses during this and next years model cycle. There have been some ‘experimental’ or ‘demonstration’ hybrid buses available for a few years now, but the 2009 and 2010 model years appear to be the time when full production models become part of the mix. For a variety of reasons, the ability of the manufacturers to ramp up hybrid bus production has been hampered by competing fuel technologies, such as natural gas fuel, or limitations in the fuel/electric/battery technology to achieve better mileage characteristics. When you add in the new technology increase in base cost to bring such a vehicle to market, the hybrid bus has previously been just beyond the normal budget for municipalities and bus fleet operators. New pricing and lifetime operating expenses are now much more economically viable. When future supply of petroleum resources indicate an ever upward spiral in fuel costs, it is highly likely that the hybrid bus will gain a significant share of future bus sales.

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We are well aware that T Boone Pickens is primarily interested in selling some of his huge holdings of natural gas. Aside from that, he is correct in pointing out that America does have a large supply of domestically produced natural gas. Furthermore, that natural gas when liquefied is a cleaner fuel when used to power internal combustion engines and is generally cheaper than petroleum based fuels. In addition, it is relatively straightforward and not prohibitively expensive to convert many types of vehicles to use liquefied natural gas as their fuel source. In fact, in most major metropolitan areas one does see numerous vehicles including buses, utility trucks, and even taxicabs that indicate they are operating on ‘clean’ natural gas technology.

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With gas prices expected to near four dollars a gallon by the early summer, many Americans will be turning to mass transportation to get around town without emptying their wallets. In major cities with high population densities, commuters have a whole range of options, but in the suburbs – a built environment designed around private automobile usage – the pickings may be slimmer, even non-existent.  Perhaps the combi, a little-known transportation system from the developing world, could change the way suburbanites travel through their space.

While the combi itself is nothing to write home about – just a large ten passenger van with a driver and a cobrador, or conductor – the way combis are organized make them perfect for navigating the sprawling world of the suburbs. Though they follow set routes like traditional buses, combis lack specific stops, picking up and dropping off passengers at any point along their route. Because of their smaller size, a combi could go where larger buses would not be welcome, such as in housing developments and big-box parking lots. This increased flexibility could allow a combi line to be more responsive to where riders actually travel than the bureaucracy-minded municipal systems.

In a country where car ownership has long been equated with economic success, many people will have to overcome their transportation bias and get on board the bus to the future.

Terra Yachting has begun it’s search for a previously owned “entertainer” or “crew/band” bus to be the first in a series of land yachts employed in eco-friendly travel packages. Our first luxury conversion bus will be christened the “Enterprise” and it’s tentative tours for 2008 will be for musicians to ‘jam’ at a series of weekend music festivals. Musician tour participants will be expected to play acoustical instruments and sing in improvisational music sets and conduct workshops demonstrating jamming techniques in exchange for lodging (this will be ‘bunk’ style sleeping arrangements), camping fees, and festival admissions fees. These ‘jams’ will be video recorded for a documentary series to be sold on the Callahans Junction web site.

There will be four “Pole and Canvas” mobile shops (i.e. essentially like ‘craft’ shops you find at most festivals) at each corner of the “Enterprise” when the land yacht arrives at its appointed destination. In addition to the Callahans Junction “JammoRama” club where all the music takes place, there will also be a pole and canvas shop for Bus Works providing Internet access stations for daily fees and conducting eco-awareness public tours of the green energy enhancements and savings features of the “Enterprise” bus. The third mobile shop will be an outlet for EnviroPhotonics providing eco-friendly portable and installed fixture lamps like compact fluorescents lamps and LED lamps and novelty items. Finally, a mobile video production studio, Vodd Ville, where customers can act or perform in their own mini productions for a reasonable fee.

Recently, we the opportunity to travel to South America, and one of the highlights was a two day stay in Machu Picchu, Peru. The town of Agua Caliente, at the bottom of the mountain and the end of the rail line, understands the worldwise interest and desire to visit this spectacular site. To see Machu Picchu closeup, you either have to make an arduous climb on foot, or you can take the bus. We recommend the bus trip at the 7000 foot plus altitude, unless you are an afficionado of mountaineering and are in decent physical shape and have the time to burn.