Do buses use more gas than cars?

Transit buses are a LITTLE more fuel-efficient, but not as much as many people might think. A car (24.2 MPG) with the national-average of 1.5 passengers gets 36.3 PPMG (Passenger Miles per Gallon). A transit bus (3.3 MPG) with a national average load (9.1 passengers) gets 30 PPMG.



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How Much MPG Does a School Bus Get? Admittedly, the average school bus's fuel economy is what you'd expect of a bus—not great. According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, school buses get an average fuel economy of just 6.02 miles per gallon (MPG).

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For in- stance, U.S. bus transit, which has about a quarter (28%) of its seats occupied on average, emits an es- timated 33% lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than the average U.S. single occu- pancy vehicle.

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But did you know that buses produce less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than other popular modes of transportation? This includes planes, cars, and even trains. In fact, buses not only produce less emissions, but they use less fuel per passenger, too.

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Finally, the plane is the most polluting means of transport and the one that generates the most greenhouse emissions.

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According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average school bus travels 12,000 miles per year 4. At the average school bus mpg, that means a single school bus would use about 1,993 gallons of fuel annually.

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Being active helps with physical health, and taking transit instead of driving reduces stress. Buses are also safer than individual vehicles. By leaving the car at home, a person can save up to 20 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every day. Buses keep the air cleaner.

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“A typical passenger car carrying one person gets 25 passenger miles per gallon, while a conventional bus at its capacity of 70 (seated and standing) gets 163 passenger miles per gallon.” So the claim : A full bus (70 people) is 6.5 times more fuel efficient then a car.

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This means it takes an average of approximately 5.83 passenger cars to carry the average load of a bus (9.21/1.58).

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A typical school bus burns approximately one-half gallon of diesel fuel for each hour it idles. Thus, if a company operates 50 buses and each bus reduces its idling time by 30 minutes per day, at $1per gallon of diesel fuel, the company would save $2,250 per school year in fuel costs.

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Fuel efficiency Fuel efficiencies used in this analysis were as follows: diesel bus: 4.82 miles per diesel gallon; diesel-hybrid bus: 5.84 miles per diesel gallon; natural gas bus: 4.47 miles per diesel gallon equivalent; and battery electric bus: 2.02 kWh per mile, which accounts for a 90 percent charging efficiency.

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Unlike a hybrid vehicle, which combines battery power with an internal combustion engine, an electric bus relies solely on electricity for power.

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Top 10 polluters
  • China, with more than 10,065 million tons of CO2 released.
  • United States, with 5,416 million tons of CO2.
  • India, with 2,654 million tons of CO2.
  • Russia, with 1,711 million tons of CO2.
  • Japan, 1,162 million tons of CO2.
  • Germany, 759 million tons of CO2.
  • Iran, 720 million tons of CO2.


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