In my last issue I noted that some people pick fantasy football teams, while geeks like me create dream teams of conference panel speakers.
Given this newsletter’s purpose is to support the electrification of transit, with a focus on social equity and the Northwest, who do I see as all-stars? The field is moving and growing so quickly that any list should be seen as fluid, not fixed. My current dream conference panel, in no particular order, going for bench strength, and only naming people I’ve interacted with in person:
Todd Daniel, former fleet manager of Link Transit in Wenatchee, Washington, and now a consultant. Starting in 2010, Todd was the first to operate electric buses in the Northwest, in sometimes sub-freezing temperatures. His knowledge-base and capacity for problem-solving are enormous. Other top picks include the brilliant Danny Ilioiu at King County Metro in Seattle, running a diverse electric fleet, Scott Simmons, fleet manager at SMART in Wilsonville, Oregon, running Proterras and Park Young, capital programs manager at TriMet, running New Flyers.
Holmes Hummel of Clean Energy Works. Holmes challenges us to leapfrog over limited, zero-sum grant sources like Low-No into the self-sustaining model of an on-bill tariff that a transit agency can choose to enter into with its utility. The PAYS (pay as you save) model lets transit agencies use a portion of their monthly fuel savings to pay down the higher purchase cost of electric buses.This model is especially powerful in the Northwest since our energy costs are among the lowest in the nation. My alternate here is Jon Jantz of Collaborative Efficiency. On-bill tariffs are well proven funding mechanisms in the energy efficiency world. We need some bus organizations and utilities willing to pioneer the model into electric buses and charging infrastructure. Holmes can help.
Hana Creger from The Greenlining Institute [I’ve heard Hana speak, but still need to meet her]. Most panels on electric buses limit their focus to technology and policy. I see that as a mistake. Maria would direct us to the bigger context of transit and social justice. Who is historically underserved? What are their needs and agenda? Which bus routes/neighborhoods are breathing the worst air? Is job training for a clean energy future part of this project? Are we talking with communities of color, rather than about them?
Social equity isn’t a panel seat to fill or a box to check, but a lens to bring to every decision. I am in learning-mode in this arena, and still have a ways to go. Bench pick: anyone from OPAL Environmental Justice / Bus Riders Unite here in Portland Oregon.
Aaron Milano or Joe Colett from Portland General Electric. Charging infrastructure is harder for transit agencies to figure out than the electric buses, themselves. It unfortunately tends to get less research and attention, because buses are more familiar, visible and charismatic. Within Oregon at least, Aaron and Joe, along with their colleague Luke Whittemore, have the most experience with charging infrastructure for electric buses.
Steve Clermont or Erik Bigelow of Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), the national/international experts on deploying electric buses. I’m going to CTE’s Zero Emissions Bus Conference this September 26-27, and encourage you to come, too. Transit agencies get two free registrations. Electrifying our transit systems needs a vibrant, chatty learning community (hence this newsletter). Rugged individualism won’t get us to the market transformation and paradigm shift we need.
And that is my dream-team electric bus conference panel, given who I’ve met and/or worked with so far. Now I need a conference to invite them to.
Nerdy side note: the zero emissions buses that CTE’s conference will address include hydrogen fuel cell buses (FCB’s) as well as battery electric buses (BEB’s). I write about the latter since they are more common, but fuel cell buses have much greater range and economy of scale than battery electrics. They fuel as quickly and in as compact a space as diesel buses, which conserves valuable time and bus-yard space. And with renewable energy prices dropping and the storage of electricity maturing, there’s a lot to like about FCB’s.
If you are new to this newsletter, I’m Alison Wiley, here in Portland Oregon. I’ve been in the transportation field since 2006, specializing in electric buses since 2016. I’m a relationship-builder, communicator and change agent, and I’m currently writing these newsletters as a public service.
I’m seeking work with a nonprofit that’s active, or seeking to be active, in the electric bus space. I see myself doing outreach and business development, building knowledge-bridges and relationships between bus organizations and the utilities who will soon be supplying their fuel.
Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)
I am on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Chinook and Cowlitz peoples.Whose land are you on?