SACRAMENTO, Calif. Motorcoach companies that operate buses in California have been given an extra three years until 2017 to meet some of the states tough new emissions standards for diesel engines.

The extension came from the California Air Resources Board after it reached a compromise with the California Bus Association, which had warned that the earlier deadline of 2014 -- proposed by the board -- would put many coach companies out of business.

"We would have had a nightmare," said James Seal, a California-based motorcoach industry consultant who was instrumental in winning the extension.

"We not only would have been ditching coaches, but ditching companies as well, because many of them could not have afforded an earlier switchover."

He said the extension gives motorcoach operators much needed additional time to plan equipment purchases in preparation for the later deadline.

"Its a huge benefit to our industry," he asserted.

Initially, the Statewide Truck and Bus Rule -- approved by the board in mid-December -- called for truck and bus companies to equip their over-the-road vehicles with emission-reducing equipment for particulate matter (PM) by Jan. 1, 2011 and for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by Jan. 1, 2014. (See Jan. 1 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Motorcoaches different

Trucks and some buses still will have to comply with the timetable for both types of emissions, but most motorcoaches will be exempt from the NOx requirement until Jan. 1, 2017. Motorcoaches also will be eligible for annual exceptions from the PM standards if the required filters for the emissions will not fit on particular buses because of their tight engine quarters.

The board described motorcoaches that qualify for the exemption as those that are "for hire" only, are at least 35-feet long, have seating for at least 40 passengers and have a separate under floor luggage compartment. The description was to distinguish them from school, shuttle, entertainment and other types of buses.

In addition to setting the new emission standards, the truck and bus rule also requires that many older engines that cannot be retrofitted to meet the gradually increasing emission limits be phased out over a 10-year period beginning in 2012.

The CARB rule, which was pushed by environmentalists, will impact hundreds of thousands of trucks and buses because it not only covers vehicles registered in California, but also those that travel into the state from other states, Canada and Mexico.

Diligence pays

Seal said CARB bought into the NOx exemption for motorcoaches after he discovered that the board was using flawed numbers to calculate the impact of coaches on the overall emissions problem facing California.

"I went through 400 pages of data and discovered that they increased the number of buses projected to be in operation in California in 2014 at 16,900, and thats just out of the question," he noted.

Seal said the CARB calculations were based on a projected increase of coaches each year of 10 percent, rather than a more realistic 1.75 percent, which resulted in the inventory of buses and the emission projections being overstated by almost three times.

"We were very lucky on this one," he added.

Trucking companies also fought the rule, stressing that enacting it during bad economic times could force many businesses into bankruptcy.

Environmentalists, health officials and others, however, argued that the rule will help control increases in respiratory and other pollution-related ailments and reduce health care costs by billions of dollars.

Seal cautioned that the motorcoach industry will have to keep a close watch on CARB to make sure it does not attempt to modify terms of the compromise or the rule.