CNG Buses

[Jiggs]

Waah, more information, hehe.

Siya nga pala, according to newspapers, they are also plans to create pipelines from the Batangas CNG station to stations in Metro Manila.

Any news about it?

well partially true yan...kaso not for CNG use ang proposed Bats.- Manila Pipeline..mainly for conversion of a Fuel oil Power Plant to a Natural Gas Fed Power Plant to lessen again our oil dependant...But who knows...baka i-tapped din yan...meron ako nabasa nun na proposed project sa mga modern city like nung the FORT magkaroon ng centralized gas system just like in the states..


Click mo to for some good reading on CNG and CNG buses.

[nicko]

Hey guys, just came from cebu. Did you know that almost all the taxis in cebu are run on CNG or LPG gas. Almost all taxi company in cebu have there own refilling station. There is even a refilling station in Mactan. May be that why manila is not progressing everybody wants the government to do the work.

[mbt]

i dont think the P14.50 cost per unit of CNG will be sustainable for long. clearly, it's heavily subsidized... luging lugi ang government diyan sa seven years na yan. although it's a good idea, i guess, while CNG is in the phase-in stage.

[nitrox]

Eto sagot ng Malaysia sa high oil prices. They are offering lower vehicle registration and road tax to private car owners who use natural gas. The govt will either subsidize or lower the price of natural gas conversion kits (costs P15K incl installation). Then their national oil company Petronas will add more natural gas pumps in their nationwide stations. Sana sa Pinas ganito na din....

Natural gas a better option to combat rising fuel prices

MAKING natural gas the first choice fuel, not just an alternative to petroleum for vehicles in the region, is the best way to effectively address the energy crisis, said Asia-Pacific Natural Gas Vehicles Association (ANGVA) president Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim.

Rahim said rising fuel and diesel prices had made natural gas an obvious choice for the automotive industry.

“With the rise in diesel and petrol prices, it is the best time for Malaysians to use natural gas as it is not only cheaper, but environmentally friendly,” he said in his keynote address at the first Asia-Pacific Natural Gas Vehicles Association Conference and Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Rahim said countries in the Asia-Pacific, including Malaysia, were blessed with large natural gas reserves.

Among the 50 countries in the region, 16 have natural gas vehicles (NGV) in operation, and are at different stages of implementing a NGV programme.

“With abundant supply, stable prices, clean burning and proven usage in over 4 million vehicles worldwide, there is no reason why natural gas cannot be the fuel of choice for the transportation sector in the region,” Rahim said.

He said in 2003, Malaysia’s transportation sector consumed about 42% of total final energy, making it the largest final energy consumer, basically in the form of petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel.

“The demand for petroleum products by the transportation sector in most countries in Asia-Pacific is set to grow, fuelling greater strain on the Government, especially in terms of subsidy,” he said.

Rahim said there were many challenges ahead to resolve if natural gas were to succeed in becoming the first choice fuel.

“There must be strong government support, a clear and consistent policy on NGV programmes and possibly collaboration between neighbouring countries to hasten the conversion,” he said, adding that ANGVA could play a crucial role in gathering, analysing and disseminating information and lessons to interested parties.

Rahim said studies of successful NGV programmes globally showed that pricing natural gas at least 30% cheaper than petrol and diesel would encourage customers to accept NGV.

Other challenges that needed to be addressed were gas supply, safety and technology advancement issues.

“The economics of purchasing, transportation, distribution and dispensing natural gas to vehicles must be viable before the NGV programmes can be successfully implemented,” he said.

He also said the technology challenge could be met either through homegrown research and development or joint ventures with overseas partners.

[theveed]

MMDA will also start the new bus scheme na diba... good 1-2 punch kung ganun

[mazdamazda]

MMDA will also start the new bus scheme na diba... good 1-2 punch kung ganun

yup...

maximization daw ng bus utilization... kasi nga naman... karamihan ng pumapasadang bus eh walang laman.

[yebo]

ot: this government of gma is sooooo greedy! it wants to sell all of the projected government revenues over the 20-25 year life of the malampaya gas field overnight so it can use (AND STEAL) the money during it's tenure!

gma swapang!

[RedHorse]

dagdag-dagdag sa OT ni yebo: take a look at 3-yr registration program ng new cars.... he he h

[zeagle]

Dapat CNG buses dito sa EDSA Metro Manila para mabawasan ang pollution at hindi sa Manila-Batangas route.

OT: Kawawa ang next admin wala nang makolekta. BIR now is calling big tax payers like banking institutions to advance payment of taxes at some discount.

[ranod55]

lets cross our finger to be soon in the market,to less our burden in none stopable oil price...

[RedHorse]

talking of buses, it's a relief to my eye everytime I meet these new HINO buses... they're back with new design... though I still have to view the interior, but from the outside they're way way better than china buses imported during cory/fidel days...

I used to ride on HINO made buses used by philtranco during my college days

[ghosthunter]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...Es-CNG-project

[SIZE="4"]Bus firms threaten to pull out of DOE’s CNG project [/SIZE]

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:42:00 02/21/2010

MANILA, Philippines -- Operators of compressed natural gas-run buses have threatened to pull out of the Department of Energy's Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT) over the government’s alleged failure to address the issues plaguing the program.

According to Roberto Torres, president of the RRCG Transport System Co. Inc., they have been unable to operate their CNG buses due to the inability of the "daughter" station of the Pilipinas Shell at Mamplasan to operate and provide fuel to them.

Torres said bus operators, which have already invested heavily for the project, have been losing some P200 million. He said his company has been suffering losses of about P1 million a month.

“Needless to say, the very promising pilot project of the NGVPPT has bogged down. We see our investment not only in the 45 CNG buses, but also in its technical support in terms of manpower training and supplier, as well as infrastructure-being wasted away and slowly sinking in the quagmire of Shell and DOE's making," he said.

The NGVPPT is a seven-year pilot program that would peg the price of CNG at P14.52 a liter, less than half the price of diesel, for participating bus operators. It targets to push forward the natural gas industry.

Currently, the mother station is in Tabangao, Batangas while the "daughter" station is in Biñan, Laguna. As such, the CNG-fed buses included under the program are those plying the Manila/Cubao to Laguna/Batangas route. Both stations are operated by the Shell group of companies in the Philippines.

According to Torres, they first learned that Shell's CNG daughter station in Mamplasan had not been operating due to the inability to transport the natural gas from the mother station in Tabangao, after a bridge collapsed in 2009.

But they also learned, said Torres that the Mamplasan station had not been operating even before the bridge collapsed.

As such the bus operators have asked the President to intervene in solving their concerns.

Different bus companies have submitted a letter to Malacañang, dated Jan. 18, 2010 that was signed by Torres, HM Transport Corp. president Crispin Rea; KL CNG Transport Corp. president Charlie Lim; and BBL Trans System Inc.'s Avelino Souza.

The bus operators claimed that "the DOE has failed to compel Pilipinas Shell to shape up and deliver its commitment to supply the CNG requirements of the NGVPPT. Instead it has acted more like the PR arm of Shell than the lead government agency in charge of ensuring the success of the NGVPPT."

In the same letter, they said that the DOE “has even failed to come up with alternative suppliers of CNG, seemingly ignoring and burying in bureaucratic red tape all our proposals."

The groups said they agreed to participate in the pilot program with a view that this would be a "most realistic and completely doable pilot project initiated by the government for the use of alternative but very clean fuel-CNG, since it can be sourced from indigenous and huge commercial deposits of natural gas, with infrastructure already in place to make full use of it."

"We committed to import 200 CNG buses from DOE-approved suppliers abroad, with the initial 45 units arriving in 2005 and 2006. DOE assured us that Pilipinas Shell, which the government had commissioned to supply the initial CNG mother/daughter stations would have such stations on-line by 2006. Unfortunately, the initial 45 buses that we imported had to deteriorate for two up to three years before we could even begin to use them, because Shell's single mother/daughter station in Malampaya and Mamplasan became operational only by mid-2008," they said.

They stressed that "since then the operation of this mother/daughter station has been plagued with technical problems and failures almost every month leading to erratic hit and miss operations of the CNG buses."

Torres, meanwhile, warned that they would have to soon convert their CNG-run buses to diesel if the government would remain mum on the real score of the NGVPPT.

[SIZE="2"]Another prime example why the Filipino is CANNED.[/SIZE]

[badkuk]

Talk about being left to twist in the wind. Sila na ang nagmagandang loob, sila pa ngayon ang napaso.

[ghosthunter]

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/i...10/february/22

[SIZE="4"]CNG-powered buses screech to a stop for lack of gas[/SIZE]

by Alena Mae S. Flores

THE entire fleet of passenger buses powered by compressed natural gas is now wasting away, unable to run because of a crippling lack of fuel.

The government had persuaded four transport companies to acquire an initial fleet of 45 buses to run on natural gas drilled from the Malampaya field off Palawan, and in a campaign to wean away the industry from smoke-belching diesel buses.

Instead, the buses have been grounded since October, with the four companies now racking up P200 million in lost income, not to mention the cost of debt servicing and maintaining the fleet, said RRCG president Roberto Torres, who has 10 CNG buses in his fleet.

The CNG supplier, Pilipinas Shell, claims it could not deliver the gas until the government repairs the Bridge of Hope in Gulod, Batangas, which was destroyed by typhoon Pepeng in October.

Strangely, Pilipinas Shell, which is fighting the government over a P7.3-billion tax claim, had been able to continuously deliver tankers filled with liquefied petroleum gas, which is heavier than CNG, using another route, said Torres.

Besides RRCG, the government had persuaded HM Transport Corp., KL CNG Transport Corp. and BBL Trans System Inc. to borrow money from the Development Bank of the Philippines to jumpstart the transport industry’s clean-air program.

From the first five buses imported from China in 2005, the government program has targeted 2,000 buses, which cost around P5 million each, to ply Metro Manila’s major routes by 2010.

Instead of clean air and cheaper CNG fuel, RRCG was now saddled with a P1-million monthly loss on the CNG buses, Torres said.

Pilipinas Shell has maintained that the alternative Taysan Bridge must be reinforced and the low electric cables cleared before the oil company could re-route its tankers for the Mamplasan delivery.

CNG buses were hailed as part of the government’s contingency measures to wean bus companies away from imported fossil fuels when world crude prices hit over $100 a barrel in 2008. The bus operators at the time offered free rides to promote the program and the benefits of CNG.

A by-product of natural gas, CNG is environmentally cleaner and produces minimal air particles. It also helps reduce the Philippines’ dependence on imported oil and costs around 40 percent lower than diesel.