Myth 6: CNG technology is experimental and no other country has done such large scale conversion to CNG

“There is no city in the world that has even one-tenth of the number of 10,000 buses targeted in Delhi, using CNG.” — R K Pachauri, director, TERI in Hindustan Times, April 8, 2001

Fact

CNG buses are coming in either to meet stringent emissions standards in more advanced markets or to catch up fast with better emission standards in developing countries.

The claims that other cities of the world still do not have such a large fleet of vehicles are often made out of context. Public transport in Delhi was asked to move to CNG in the perspective of the extremely high levels of toxic pollutants in the city in the ambient air. No city in the world has been found with particulate matter pollution as high as that of Delhi.

But another reason why a large fleet of buses have not yet been made the target of mandatory alternative fuel regulations in European and US cities is because of lesser number of buses in those cities, lesser intensity of bus use and comparatively lesser relative contribution of buses to air pollution. It is also important to note that availability of CNG also varies from country to country but wherever it is available a move is being made to use it for transportation. Also tighter emissions regulations in future will help to phase in more alternative fuelled vehicles.

The report of the CSE panel of experts on CNG concludes, “In cities facing severe air pollution problems, the use of heavy-duty natural gas engines in place of diesels offers numerous environmental benefits. This has led cities from Tehran to Los Angeles to substitute natural gas for diesel engines in buses, garbage trucks, and other urban vehicles. Los Angeles, California, has more than 900 natural gas buses in service, and is in the process of adopting regulations requiring natural gas or other clean fuels in garbage trucks, and school buses as well. Mexico City has purchased more than 500 natural gas garbage trucks. Sacramento, California, has replaced more than two-thirds of its bus fleet with natural gas buses, and has a declared policy never to buy another diesel bus. Bangkok, Santiago, Cairo, Beijing, and many other major cities have also established natural gas bus programmes”.37