Articles inside « Green actions » category

The transmission on STM buses is more hi-tech than ever. It now comes equipped with a new program, called Topodyn, for dynamic topography, making fuel-efficient driving automatic while adapting it to road conditions.

When delivered by the manufacturer, all new conventional and articulated buses (2011) come with the Topodyn program integrated in their transmission. The STM is currently retrofitting the program on its older bus models. By the end of 2011, it will have modified 418 such vehicles. This means fuel savings of some 2 million dollars a year for the transit company, in addition to fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

If one considers the service life of a bus, this means some 70 000 tons of GHG that will not be emitted into the atmosphere, thanks to the Topodyn program. Another advantage: it ensures dynamic acceleration and smoother gear shifting upon departure, leading to greater comfort and safety for passengers. Partly financed by Transport Québec, the project proved a sound investment.

Teamwork that produces results

The STM has been working on the Topodyn project since 2008. Bus drivers took part in tests carried out on vehicles that had been equipped with the Topodyn program. Their role consisted of driving the bus along various routes, flat or inclined, to monitor the vehicle’s response during acceleration and braking, while engineers noted the test results. These tests proved conclusive, resulting in the new system being retrofitted and installed on all other bus models during fall 2011. The study is still ongoing with respect to older bus models dating back from 2001 to 2006.

The first phase of the waste management plan’s implementation was carried out in 15 métro stations, from Frontenac to Atwater on the Green line, with the exception of Berri-UQAM, and from Champ-de-Mars to Georges-Vanier on the Orange line.

The second phase is already started in a dozen other stations, from Préfontaine to Honoré-Beaugrand on the Green line. Implementation of the plan in these other stations will take until early 2012.

In the wake of Québec’s Residual Materials Management Policy and of the Montréal Community Sustainable Development Plan 2010-2015, the STM followed suit by implementing its own waste management plan (PGMR) throughout the métro. The plan calls for gradually removing the 245 paper collection bins and 1 600 wall-mounted trash cans along passenger platforms and mostly replacing them with “islands” featuring two sections (trash and recycling) installed mainly at a station’s entrance/exit and along mezzanines.

Adhering to the 3RV principle of Reducing, Reusing, Recycling and Value-adding, some 1 000 of the 1 600 trash cans removed from platform walls will be reused to produce the new islands, thus preventing any more raw materials or energy from being used. This way, the trash cans, that were an integral part of the original metro station design, get a second lease on life. Furthermore, their stainless steel casing has proven durable over time.

Bins and trash cans will soon be on the move beacause of our own waste management plan throughout the métro network! Over the coming weeks, the 1 600 wall-mounted trash cans  and 245 paper collection bins will be gradually removed from the platforms throughout the métro network. They will be replaced by 336 “islands” featuring two sections, one for trash and the other for the collection of recyclable materials – plastic, glass, metal, newspapers, cardboard – that will share space primarily in the entrances and on the mezzanines of the métro stations. In the short term, the objective of this major change is to cut the quantity of trash in half and double the quantity of recycled materials. In the long term, we would like to ensure that there is as little trash as possible and more recyclable materials. A benchmarking study in other transit companies and an examination of international standards revealed that placing collection bins and trash cans on the upper level of stations makes it easier to manage the pick-up of trash and recyclable items as well as safety on the platforms.

The project will also have a major impact on the habits of transit users, and nothing will be left to chance in relation to awareness, information and signage to guide them through the transition period. Directional signage, among other things, should ease the way for clients enabling them to quickly establish a routine and easily find the proper containers into which to throw their trash and recyclable materials.

The calculation used to arrive at this result is based on several factors.

1. The Origin-Destination study conducted in 2008 enabled us to determine that the average distance travelled during a trip on the STM network is 8.3 km, of which 5.3 km occurs on the métro. We also learned that the average number of passengers in a car is 1.3.

2. Our calculations take into account the total GHG emissions of STM buses divided by the actual ridership on the bus network, for an average of 112 g of CO2 per passenger-kilometre for the buses. We then calculate the emissions for an average trip of 3 km by bus (at 112 g per passenger-km) and 5.3 km by métro (the métro segment emits no CO2, as the métro is 100% electric).

3. As for a trip by car in the city, it generates 208 g of CO2 per passenger-kilometre, or 270 g per kilometre /1.3 passenger.

4. We then compare the emissions from the same 8.3-km trip carried out by a car with 1.3 passengers and carried out by bus and métro. This calculation determines that each return trip prevents net CO2 emissions of 2.8 kg.

5. The quantity of CO2 stored by a tree in a year varies depending on the type of tree and the type of environment. In order to establish the equivalence in terms of CO2 between a trip by public transit and a tree, we used calculators from TreeCanada and ZéroCO2. Research carried out by the team of Claude Villeneuve at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi provides similar indications. On the basis of this information, we concluded that a tree stores on average 2.8 kg of CO2 per year.

6. Obviously, trees, just like public transit, offer many other ecological benefits in addition to the reduction of CO2 !