Every day I ride the bus to work at a local college, and I ride home the same way.
Some days my bus is a patriotic blue and red, and other days it’s a recognizable blue and green. Some days it’s a quiet electric bus, and other days I hear the diesel engine roaring a block away. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you which it was this morning; I was far too busy digging my bus pass out of my pocket, too busy stepping out of the cold and onto the bus, and too busy finding my seat and planning out my day.
Green or red, Electric or diesel, I pulled the cord, gathered my things, and stepped off the bus ready to work.
As a recent college graduate, I can tell you that college campuses can be centers of societal change and innovation. As someone who now works on one such campus, I can tell you that even here, change is often hard to implement.
However, as a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, I can tell you without a doubt that it is possible.
Worcester, Massachusetts, is the second largest city in New England but you wouldn’t know that by being there. Large cities are often tagged as being cultural meccas, centers for new technologies and progressive ideas, with reaching skylines that call out from the horizon; for many years, this had not described Worcester.
Worcester gained its cityhood in the mid-1800’s then rose to prominence as a manufacturing powerhouse in the early 1900’s. The end of the Second World War reduced the demand for machine production and Worcester like many other cities and towns of the industrial revolution slid into decline.
Simply said; Worcester is a post industrial city with a post industrial economy.
Recently, the medical industry has taken a renewed interest in the city, and between the new influx of jobs and the continued migration of students to the region’s nine colleges, the city is entering a sort of renaissance.
This can be seen in the revival of the city’s downtown, the renovation of key historic buildings, the addition of new restaurants and businesses, the replotting of roadways, and if you look closely enough you might just see it in our buses.
Roughly two years ago, the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) replaced six of its city buses with all electric plug-in equivalents. For riders, the only notable differences between the diesel and electric vehicles is visual and audible; the new buses sport streamlined green roofs marked with the slogan “Every day is Earth Day," and they are also very quiet.
For those in the know however, the difference is stark.
According to theMassDOT website, the new buses reduce WRTA emissions by over 50 tons and cost the city $500,000 less, annually, to operate than their diesel counterparts.
A reduction in noise pollution, air pollution, and a reduction in costs is a clear win for everyone involved.
Worcester’s electric buses do their quiet work in the background while continuing to offer the same quality of service as their diesel counterpart.
They also offer proof of concept to those who may have been skeptical of the practicality of electric vehicles.
It’s not a matter of choosing energy efficiency over mechanical efficiency. It’s a matter of realizing that they aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s a matter of accepting that sometimes you can have both.
By Sarah Firmani, Worcester State University