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US cities pay too much for buses

(www.bloomberg.com)
355 points pavel_lishin | 3 comments | 26 Sep 25 13:57 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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myrmidon ◴[26 Sep 25 14:24 UTC] No.45386847[source]▶
I think this shows one of the downsides of trade barriers very well: You get stuck with undesirable industries (diesel bus manufacturing), binding capital and labor better used elsewhere (and you easily end up with underperforming, overpriced solutions, too).

But I'm curious how much this actually affects transport costs. If such a bus is used 12h/day, then even overpaying 100% for the vehicle should get outscaled by labor + maintenance pretty quickly, long before the vehicle is replaced...

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mrits ◴[26 Sep 25 14:33 UTC] No.45386958[source]▶
What is wrong with diesel bus manufacturing? Just the exhaust pedestrians have to breath in? It seems near the bottom of the list for things we'd need to solve for carbon emissions.
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mschuster91 ◴[26 Sep 25 14:36 UTC] No.45386995[source]▶
It's not just pedestrians, but residents who gotta breathe in the particulate and other exhaust emissions. That, in turn, significantly affects poorer parts of the population who have no other choice than to live and rent near heavily trafficed roads.
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1. SoftTalker ◴[26 Sep 25 14:39 UTC] No.45387024[source]▶
Modern diesels emit almost no particulates. The older ones yes, but few are still on the road in public transit service.
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2. xnx ◴[26 Sep 25 14:51 UTC] No.45387190[source]▶
> The older ones yes, but few are still on the road in public transit service

If only that were true in my major US city. The public buses are probably the most filthy vehicles on the road. Every fourth one lets out a cloud of acrid black smoke every time it accelerates. I have to assume they are officially or informally exempt from emissions testing.

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3. MisterTea ◴[26 Sep 25 17:32 UTC] No.45388976[source]▶
I assume those are older busses in fleets that don't have the money to buy new cleaner busses. This is what I observe out on Long Island. You see maybe one or two people on a bus ant any given time because LI is dominated by the car. The busses are a total loss so there's no money to upgrade.