New Muni buses fail the hill test

Muni bought a bunch of new buses to add to its fleet, but tests are showing that the new buses might not be able to handle San Francisco’s famous hills, the SF Examiner reports. The city spent about $26 million to buy the new buses from New Flyer Industries last year, knowing that these buses can’t handle inclines of more than 10 percent, according to the Examiner.

WTF, right? SFMTA plans to run these buses on flat routes instead of getting into situations like this.

Here’s more:

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency tested its newest buses last November before letting rubber hit the cement, but the results of those tests — obtained by the Examiner — show Muni’s
new 60-foot electric buses don’t meet the agency’s own acceleration requirements for even moderately steep hills.

SFMTA officials told the Examiner they knew the buses couldn’t handle grades above 10 percent, so the agency would run them only on The City’s flatter routes.

Among the steepest routes in the Muni system are the 1-California and the 22-Fillmore. One portion of Fillmore is graded at over 18 percent, according to topographical maps.

You can read all about the test data over at the Examiner.

H/T: SFist
Photo via SFMTA

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