LANSING, MI – The Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) has added three buses powered by General Motors’ diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system to its mass transit fleet. The three vehicles are the first hybrid buses to enter service in the state of Michigan. The city of Lansing is the 39th community to invest in transit buses powered by General Motors’ hybrid technology, which offers greater fuel economy and significantly reduced emissions compared with conventional diesel buses.

Buses powered by GM’s advanced hybrid propulsion technology deliver significantly better fuel economy than traditional buses and produce up to 60 percent fewer oxides of nitrogen emissions and 90 percent fewer particulate, hydrocarbon, and carbon monoxide emissions. Other benefits of the buses include reduced maintenance costs resulting from extended brake, engine oil, and transmission oil life; providing 50 percent faster acceleration compared with conventional diesel buses; and operational sound levels approaching that of passenger cars.

Since 2004, more than 475 GM hybrid-powered buses have been delivered to 38 communities in the U.S. and Canada. The estimated annual combined fuel savings for the 478 GM hybrid-powered buses is 700,000 gallons.

By the end of the year, another 127 GM hybrid-powered buses are expected to be delivered to transit authorities across North America.

The clean, hybrid technology is manufactured by GM’s Allison Transmission, maker of transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems for commercial trucks, buses, off-highway equipment, and military vehicles, headquartered in Indianapolis. New Flyer Industries, which manufactures the buses, is headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with two facilities in the United States. New Flyer is the largest manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in North America.

The two-mode hybrid technology in these buses has served as the starting point for GM’s co-development with DaimlerChrysler and BMW Group of a two-mode, hybrid system for light-duty vehicles that GM will launch next year in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, followed by the Cadillac Escalade in 2008.