STUDY OF HYBRID BUSES URGED LOCAL OFFICIALS ADOPT WAIT-AND-SEE ATTITUDE.

Byline: Lee Condon Staff Writer

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is on a buying spree for buses powered by compressed natural gas, but some local leaders said Tuesday that the MTA could consider the feasibility of diesel-electric hybrid buses that may be more reliable and cheaper to operate.

A study released Monday suggested that diesel-electric hybrid buses scored favorably on emissions when compared with compressed natural gas, or CNG, buses.

Environmentalists have attacked the study, saying it did not properly account for health risks from diesel emissions.

The MTA has 750 natural-gas buses on order and is in negotiations to buy 370 more. The agency plans to buy an additional 700 in future years.

Peter Whittingham, an aide to MTA board member and county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said the new study is not enough to prompt a change in the MTA's policy of buying only natural-gas buses.

``But if in fact the study shows CNG is inferior to another technology, the supervisor would be supportive of researching it.''

Richard Katz, former chairman of the state Assembly Transportation Committee, said leaders would have to take a close look at the study.

``We need to see if hybrid-diesel is really as clean as they say it is,'' Katz said.

Ed Scannell, an MTA spokesman, said agency officials had not yet examined the study by the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium, said to be an independent review of the new technology.

While the MTA now owns the largest fleet of CNG buses in North America, New York City Transit, which runs a fleet of 4,300 buses, has resisted natural gas. Of their fleet, only 90 buses use CNG, said Al O'Leary, vice president of public affairs for New York City Transit.

New York was so taken with the six hybrid test buses it has ordered 120 more. The six test vehicles were more reliable in comparison with the agency's CNG buses, he said.

The hybrid buses are more expensive, in part because it's a new technology and few have been ordered. O'Leary said New York Transit will pay $385,000 each for its new hybrid buses. The agency pays about $350,000 for compressed natural-gas buses and $300,000 for new standard diesel buses.

However, O'Leary said the natural-gas buses come with added expenses because the city has to build multimillion-dollar fueling stations for them.

Scannell said the MTA has six fueling stations, which cost about $4 million each to build. A seventh is expected to open in March and three more are in the planning stages.

Gail Ruderman Feuer, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Los Angeles, said the study fails to properly compare a diesel hybrid engine with those using CNG.

``If the diesel industry could prove to us they have cleaned up diesel so it doesn't pose a risk to the community, we would not oppose it. But diesel is an inherently dirty fuel,'' Feuer said, noting that diesel is listed by the state of California as a chemical known to cause cancer and is a toxic air contaminant.

``It's a dead loser in L.A.'' Feuer said.