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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 4-24M: Energy Intensity of Transit Motor Buses

Friday, July 22, 2016

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  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 (R) 2009 (R) 2010 (R) 2011 (R) 2012 (R) 2013 2014
Vehicle-kilometers (millions) 2,537 2,460 2,268 2,456 2,699 2,998 3,428 3,487 3,505 3,556 3,479 3,514 2,692 (R) 2,976 (R) 3,064 (R) 3,195 (R) 3,284 (R) 3,386 (R) 3,470 (R) 3,407 (R) 3,491 (R) 3,528 (R) 3,563 (R) 3,607 (R) 3,656 3,678 3,586 3,476 3,456 3,468 3,511
Passenger-kilometers (millions) N N N N 35,068 34,055 33,766 33,941 32,728 32,584 30,307 30,285 25,460 (R) 28,178 (R) 28,765 (R) 30,069 (R) 30,267 (R) 31,516 (R) 31,670 (R) 30,865 (R) 30,450 (R) 31,261 (R) 32,815 (R) 32,811 (R) 34,115 33,957 36,322 60,776 34,025 34,210 34,487
Energy consumed                                                              
Diesel fuel (million liters) 787 939 1,026 1,382 1,632 1,961 2,132 2,169 2,241 2,179 2,139 2,134 1,763 1,754 1,773 1,804 1,853 1,862 1,773 1,672 1,668 1,421 1,597 1,535 1,526 1,695 1,601 1,578 1,521 1,451 1,349
Compressed Natural Gas (million liters) N N N N N N N N N N N 38 38 67 103 126 159 193 246 296 323 351 413 402 421 528 468 478 461 486 500
Bio-diesel (million liters) N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N 3 3 8 195 61 78 125 150 155 170 690 231 119
Liquefied natural gas (million liters) N N N N N N N N N N N 6 8 12 10 17 33 37 53 44 50 55 58 57 56 95 87 80 72 65 54
Gasoline (million liters) N N N N N N N N N N N 9 4 5 6 4 4 5 4 3 5 3 7 7 11 24 26 28 32 33 32
Other major fuelsa (million liters) N N N N N N N N N N N N 43 34 16 9 3 4 8 (R) 8 (R) 8 (R) 11 (R) 8 (R) 4 (R) 3 24 13 14 14 24 21
Powerb (million KWH) N N N N N N N N N N N N 0 0 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
Energy consumed, total (Billion kilojoules) N N N N N N N N N N N N 69,603 69,471 69,992 71,266 73,644 74,334 71,846 (R) 68,023 (R) 68,389 (R) 65,721 (R) 68,317 (R) 66,322 (R) 67,780 77,558 73,561 73,220 89,173 70,497 62,411
Diesel fuel 30,438 36,291 39,657 53,413 63,071 75,817 82,409 83,830 86,638 84,252 82,689 82,500 68,160 67,799 68,541 69,751 71,646 71,974 68,535 64,642 64,464 54,914 61,729 59,337 58,981 65,541 61,880 61,020 58,808 56,097 52,149
Compressed Natural Gas N N N N N N N N N N N 237 240 420 647 790 999 1,211 1,543 1,856 2,027 2,199 2,589 2,521 2,640 3,313 2,936 2,996 2,890 2,957 3,139
Bio-diesel N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N 103 113 283 6,850 2,138 2,745 4,380 5,265 5,442 5,968 24,287 8,134 4,171
Liquefied natural gas N N N N N N N N N N N 152 200 289 230 392 781 875 1,253 1,049 1,178 1,295 1,381 1,354 1,330 2,254 2,056 1,891 1,707 1,527 1,276
Gasoline N N N N N N N N N N N 303 132 175 199 143 134 163 139 122 190 102 243 251 373 830 906 965 1,113 1,159 1,102
Other major fuelsa N N N N N N N N N N N N 867 786 368 182 73 101 246 225 227 349 223 (R) 102 65 347 332 368 356 612 539
Powerb N N N N N N N N N N N N 3 3 7 9 10 11 27 15 21 13 13 11 10 9 9 11 11 11 37
Energy intensity (kilojoules/passenger-kilometer) N N N N N N N N N N N N 2,734 (R) 2,465 (R) 2,433 (R) 2,370 (R) 2,433 (R) 2,359 (R) 2,269 (R) 2,204 (R) 2,246 (R) 2,102 (R) 2,082 (R) 2,021 (R) 1,987 2,284 2,025 1,205 2,621 2,061 1,810

KEY: Btu = British thermal unit; N = data do not exist; R = revised.

a Before 2002, Other major fuels includes liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, ethanol, and bunker fuel. From 2002 - 14, Other major fuels includes liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, ethanol, bunker fuel, kerosene, and grain additive. After 2014, other major fuels includes liquefied petroleum gas, ethanol and hydrogen.

b Power includes electric propulsion and electric battery.

NOTES

Data from 1996 and after are not comparable to the data for earlier years or to the data published in previous editions of the report due to different data sources used.

Data from 1997 and after are for those vehicles used for both directly operated (DO) and purchased transportation (PT) services.

Data from 2011 includes all buses including rapid transit as well as commuter buses.

Energy consumed, total does not include the other types of energy identified in table 17 in the National Transit Database due to the lack of information on the unit of measurement for such data before 2008.

The following conversion rates were used:

Diesel =138,700 Btu/gallon.

Compressed natural gas = 22,500 Btu/gallon.

Bio-Diesel = 126,200 Btu/gallon.

Liquefied natural gas = 84,800 Btu/gallon.

Gasoline = 125,000 Btu/gallon

Liquefied petroleum gas = 91,300 Btu/gallon.

Methanol = 64,600 Btu/gallon.

Ethanol = 84,600 Btu/gallon.

Bunker fuel = 149,700 Btu/gallon.

Kerosene = 135,000 Btu/gallon.

Grain additive = 120,900 Btu/gallon.

Electricity 1KWH = 3,412 Btu, negating electrical system losses. This table includes approximate electrical system losses, and thus the conversion factor is multiplied by 3.

1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers.

1 gallon = 3.785412 liters.

1 British thermal unit (Btu) = 1.055056 kilojoules.

SOURCES

1960-95: American Public Transportation Association, 2010 Public Transportation Fact Book Appendix A: Historical Tables (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), tables 2, 6, 30, 32 and similar tables in earlier editions, available at http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/transitstats.aspx as of Aug 23, 2010.

1996-2014: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database, tables 17, 19, and similar tables in earlier editions, available at http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/data.htm as of Apr. 13, 2016.