Date:	July 31, 2001
To:	Daniel McKeever, City Manager
From:	Robert Puentes, Chair, Citizens' Advisory Committee on Transportation (CACT)
Cc:	CACT Members; Kathleen Buschow, City Clerk
Re:	Electrek Bus Service

: 
The Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation (CACT) applauds the city staff's sustained strong efforts to make the Electrek bus service an operational reality.  The commitments and cooperation of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority deserve special recognition, too.

We are reminded that the Electrek hybrid bus service initiative was designed, funded and otherwise intended as a demonstration project - an alternative public transportation mode combining advanced fuel technologies and battery charging systems.  As such, the ability to adequately test these innovative features and to provide an opportunity to adjust and trouble-shoot is the overall goal and the reason the project was initiated in the first place.  Expanded bus service in and around Falls Church was the happy by-product along with reducing automobile vehicle miles and trips, pollution emissions, and increasing overall transit ridership.

The CACT has received regular briefings on the status of the project and the technical obstacles that now threaten the service.  At this stage the CACT believes it is timely and judicious for the city to address contingency planning for instituting bus service along the routes already determined for Electrek.  We do not advocate abandonment of the Electrek option, for we subscribe to the need for appropriate field testing until it is perfected.  However, we remain more enthusiastic about the mobility benefits in circulating residents within the city and to/from the Metrorail stations.

In that the intra-city routes are already laid out and public expectations and interest are still high, two alternatives seem worth considering: 1) "regular" electric buses (i.e., battery buses, fuel cell buses) or 2) jitney-style buses that are smaller, quieter and capable of negotiating neighborhood streets such as those deployed by WMATA in parts of Georgetown and Dupont Circle.

Again, it is the opinion of the CACT that should the Electrek Bus service not be initiated, other alternatives should be pursued.  In addition, we feel it is important for city officials and spokespersons to take pains to remind the public that the Electrek initiative remains a "demonstration project" underwritten by regional transportation authorities.

Thank you for your consideration.  We are available to discuss these issues in further detail.