MTA officials consider purchase of buses boasting 'stealth' technology.

SOUTH BAY - Engineers with Northrop Grumman Corp. in Hawthorne and El Segundo have designed a new "stealth bus" for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, using technologies developed in the design of fighter planes to make stronger, lighter mass transit vehicles.

Now the question facing the MTA - which is already behind schedule on replacing its aging bus fleet - is whether to wait for the stealth technology to be available for mass bus production, or to replace its buses and add to its fleet now with existing technology.

MTA Board of Directors member Jim Cragin, a Gardena city councilman, is advocating that the MTA only replace existing buses when absolutely necessary and hold-out for a fleet of the so-called stealth buses in a couple of years.

"We don't want to buy a whole new fleet of the old technology only to have, in a couple years, the stealth bus become available," said Cragin. "The Bus Riders Union (an advocate group for inner-city bus riders) says we need hundreds of buses. The life span of our buses is 12 years. We want to replace what we have to, but buy a minimum (of the currently available buses)."

But Eric Mann, director of the Labor Community Strategy Center, which is suing the MTA for spending money on rail construction at the expense of its neglected bus system, called Cragin's plan "ridiculous."

"This is techno-racism," Mann said. "This is another way to delay buying buses. They have 2,000 buses. They need 4,000. They could right now buy 400 CNG (compressed natural gas) buses, and 400 next year, and in two years there would still be plenty of demand for buses. ... Each year, the best available technology (would) get the contract.

Technology questions

"(Cragin's position) sounds like there's no good buses available today but (that) one day, they will be this new technology. Some people are saying, 'Let's wait for electric. Let's wait for fuel cells.' There's excellent technology out there now."

Right now, there is no money in the MTA's budget to expand the bus fleet, only to replace buses more than 12 years old, said Richard Hunt, deputy executive officer for operations at the MTA. The MTA has decided to buy 250 CNG buses as replacement buses this year, and will contract out with an independent bus company to relieve overcrowding on some routes, Hunt continued.

The MTA also has approved $10 million for a bus improvement program but has not decided how specifically to spend the funds. They could pay for 30 new buses.

The Southern California Rapid Transit District, a predecessor agency to the MTA, first contracted with Northrop and its subcontractors in 1992 for the design of a lightweight, low-emission, advanced technology bus. Now that the design is finished, and two test "beds" or shells have been built, Northrop is at work on its first prototype, scheduled to be completed in October.

Plans call for Northrop to build six prototypes, which the MTA will then distribute to various cities for testing. Once the results of the test runs are in, the MTA could go out to bid for a full fleet of the buses. Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said the aerospace firm has not decided whether it would want to be the prime contractor on mass production of the vehicles. Currently, the company has 50 to 60 people on the project, he said.

New materials

Hart explained that Northrop worked with subcontractors that had experience in ground transportation to design a bus using "composite" materials developed in the building of military aircraft. The materials are lighter and stronger than traditional metal. Plus they are more flexible and can be molded into "fancier shapes," allowing for a seamless bus shell with no bolts and fasteners, and therefore no weak spots, Hart said.

Seamless construction also means lower labor costs and less possibility for corrosion, he continued, which may lower the cost of manufacturing to less than that of traditional buses.

The prototype buses will be produced with an engine that uses a combination of natural gas and electricity as its power sources.

But Cragin said eventually the buses will probably run on fuel cells, once that technology advances.

"I think this is going to be the thing of the future," said Cragin. "I saw a demonstration (on the stealth bus shell) where they ran into it at 25 miles per hour, right into the side of the bus, and then said, 'Try to find a dent.' We have bus accidents, and the buses go to the shop. These buses don't go to the shop. This really is going to be something."