Giving drivers ways to turn off engines

By Tom Avril INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Dec 13, 2004

Charlie Becker used to sit inside his yellow bus after dropping off schoolchildren to see the sights of historic Philadelphia, keeping the engine humming so he could stay warm.

These days, he waits inside a cozy lounge at Second and Callowhill Streets, equipped with television, microwave, and a bathroom with showers. He turns off the bus, and the air is cleaner as a result.

In Philadelphia and elsewhere, regulators rarely enforce rules against prolonged engine idling by diesel trucks and buses. But some think that enticements like driver lounges may be a better way to reduce diesel pollution, which has been linked to heart attacks and breathing problems.

If it weren't for the lounge, Becker said, he'd have no choice but to leave his engine running on winter days.

"A bus is just a big tin can," Becker said recently, sitting at a gray table with two fellow drivers from the Toms River School District in New Jersey.

In addition to the lounge and its parking lot, which were built along with the National Constitution Center last year, local schools and governments have taken other steps to curb diesel exhaust.

A truck stop in Paulsboro has been "electrified," so drivers can get air-conditioning, heat, cable TV, and Internet access in their cabs without leaving their engines on. The drivers pull up under a rack that holds giant yellow tubes they can insert through their window for $1.25 an hour. A panel at the end of the tube has a vent, sockets, and outlets for plugging in a TV and laptop and providing warm or cool air.

In Lower Merion, the school district has purchased 73 buses that run on cleaner-burning natural gas. District policy largely prohibits drivers from idling their engines while waiting for students.

Using state or federal grants, Upper Darby, Wissahickon and North Penn School Districts all have bought or are planning to buy special pollution filters for their older buses.

Eric Cheung coordinates Philadelphia Diesel Difference, a coalition of public and private interests that is trying to cut pollution. Technology, he said, is an important part of the solution to pollution.

"It can work because you're not attacking the person who's causing the problem," said Cheung, who is also a staff attorney at the nonprofit Clean Air Council.

Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., which owns The Inquirer and Daily News, asks the drivers of its 300 trucks to turn off engines while carrying newspapers into stores, transportation manager Tom Whitehead said. He said some probably do not follow this advice, in the interest of speeding up the day's delivery run.

But 30 of the fleet's newer trucks have an automatic device that shuts off the engine after five minutes of idling , primarily to save fuel and wear and tear on the engine, said PNI fleet maintenance supervisor Steve Schoen.

Another technology-based solution is made by the British corporation Johnson Matthey, which has its North American headquarters in Wayne.The company has sold more than 120,000 diesel filters worldwide, said
Martin Lassen, manager of commercial development and marketing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a goal of retrofitting all 11 million heavy-duty diesel engines by 2010. In the meantime, there are solutions like the driver lounge at Second and Callowhill, a one-story building tucked between Interstate 95 and a SEPTA line. Some drivers say that at $20 a day, the cost is too high, and some lament not being closer to Independence Mall.

But Augie Siciliano, one of Becker's fellow drivers from Toms River, gave the facility a thumbs-up.

"It's better than just sitting on a bus all day long," he said.

Contact staff writer Tom Avril at 215-854-2430 or tavril@phillynews.com.