'Hapi' buses keeping it green

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net REMEMBER the blue Love Bus of yesteryears? Well, in today’s environmentally challenged times, green should be more “in”. I was walking along Ayala Avenue the other day when I chanced upon a line of buses marked with the letters CNG, which, I learned after closer inspection, meant compressed natural gas. Don’t expect to find these buses on Edsa, though. These buses belong to HM Transport and have been operating for two years now but these only take the Manila-Laguna-Batangas route. They were in Makati that day to bring some foreign dignitaries from Shangri-la Hotel to Malacanang. HM Transport is one of several bus operators accredited by the government under the Department of Energy’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport program. The DOE’s goal is to have at least 200 of these CNG-powered buses -- most of which are made in China -- operated by several operators. The thing, though, with alternative fuels such as CNG is availability of refilling stations. Shell has established a refilling station along Mamplasan Exit in the South, sourced from the Malampaya gas fields in Palawan. So how do these buses perform on the road? I hopped on one of these buses and got it straight from the driver’s mouth.