CNG Buses face hiccups in Wageningen

Public transport company BBA, part of the international Veolia Group, runs several Valleilijn compressed natural gas (CNG) buses on its popular route from Ede-Wageningen train station. The MAN buses drive around 450 km every day, returning to base once a day to fill the CNG tanks mounted on the roof of the vehicle.

The buses have been tested to the highest safety and reliability standards. But – precisely because the buses are so focused on safety - the composition of the CNG used in The Netherlands has caused one or two minor hiccups. An unnamed driver for the company said that the super-efficient safety procedures programmed in to the bus’s on-board computer meant that any small glitch caused the bus to occasionally shut down.

The issue is reported to be caused by a very slight difference in the composition of Dutch CNG compared to the CNG the bus’s operational software is used to dealing with.

It would have made sense to have addressed the problem before the buses were actually put into service. Anyhow, BBA is currently tweaking the software to improve the way it handles Dutch CNG and avoid the shut downs.