How many riders does a bus have to have to be environmentally friendly?

Question

How full does a standard size bus have to be to use less fuel per passenger than if those people were carpooling in cars (i.e. 4 passengers per car)?

Answer 1

56 People on the Bus ... compared with a fuel efficient car (small hatchback, with 1.4 litre engine or lower, or about 103g of Co2 / km, with four passengers)



Cars with greater engines will mean less passengers for the bus. This answer only takes into account Co2 emissions from use, not from manufacture of vehicle and infrastructure. Some buses now use alternative fuels.



Using figures from a previous question I answered, for full details on the figures used to equate this answer;



http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com/2007/04/planes-trains-automobiles.html



Energy Saver

http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com

Answer 2

Based on http://www.nativeaccess.com/ancestral/navigation2.html I'd say the bus needs more than 20 riders.



In San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, this is no problem. In any suburb--HUGE problem. I usually see 4-5 people on big suburban busses--in Sacramento, Fremont, Pleasanton, etc. But gas prices will change that within a couple of years! So not to worry.

Answer 3

Technicly a bus it NOT envirmentally friendly but i'd say as many as the bus could fit because then a bunch of people that are going to the same place can ride the bus.

Answer 4

It's not that simple.



1. That bus you see with 5 people on it, might be full earlier or later in its run.



2. You run off-hours bus service so people CAN use it, not necessarily that they will. For instance most people only ride the bus commute hours. But if you don't run midday buses, the parents feel like there's no way to get home in an emergency. If you don't run evening buses, the singles feel like they can't stay out on the town. They'd drive. You would lose them as commute-hour riders if you didn't run the daytime and evening services.



So it's not as simple as "delete every bus with <20 people on it".

Answer 5

A bus can be environmentally friendly by having no passengers . In Brisbane (Australia) , we have most buses running now on natural gas , they are brightly coloured , so evrytime one drives past , it is in itself a promotion for environmental sustainability .

Answer 6

And what if the majority of the population rode the bus or trains (like Marta in Altanta) or rode bikes or walked



Imagine that impact

Answer 7

I'd say,just one person.The one person that decides to bus to work instead of driving makes a large difference in the amount of Co2 and other toxins into the air.

Answer 8

No.



Your question should be: "How many riders should a bus have to reduce each rider's carbon footprint?