In the Spotlight
New York City Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Motor Equipment: Keeping Fleets On the Run
Backed by a stringent preventative maintenance program DSNY’s Bureau of Motor Equipment is the key to keeping fleets strong, reliable and environmentally friendly.
Originally known as the Department of Street Cleaning, the New York City Department of Sanitation’s (DSNY) waste reduction program—including recycling, street sweeping and a dedicated uniformed cleaning and collection force—is now the U.S’ largest municipal sanitation operation, collecting more than 12,000 tons of residential and institutional refuse and 1,760 tons of recyclables per day.New York City’s businesses, whose waste is collected by private carting companies, generate another 13,000 tons of refuse each day. To meet these challenges, DSNY employs 7,197 uniformed sanitation workers and supervisors as well as 2,048 civilian workers.
Serving the 59 Community Board Districts (CBD) throughout the five boroughs of NYC, every one of them is equipped with the manpower, equipment and resources (onsite fueling, etc.) to service (waste collection, recycling, street-cleaning, snow removal, salting, etc.) each community. Each refuse truck is capable of plowing snow (a very unique part of our operation). The DSNY provides regularly scheduled curbside and containerized refuse collection services for every residential household, public school, public building and many large institutions in New York City. Collection trucks service curbside refuse and recycling along with basket collection and can hold up to 12.5 tons of refuse each day.
DSNY’s Division of Support Services provides the internal support required for the department to perform its essential tasks. One of the organizations within the Support Services Division is the Bureau of Motor Equipment (BME), which provides a full service for the fleet, from design, research and development, to procurement, maintenance, repair and ultimate disposal. The is also responsible for upgrades and modifications, including alternative fuels, idle shut-down systems and diesel particulate filters, etc.
Staying On Top
In April 2012, in an effort to reduce spending, Mayor Bloomberg signed an Executive Order (161) that requires the City’s fleets—including Sanitation, Parks Department, Environmental Protection, Police Department, Fire Department, etc.—to consolidate vehicle maintenance operations, share resources and harmonize equipment specifications. Also under the Executive Order, the BME is designated as a “Center of Excellence” to facilitate maintenance and repairs, of most medium and heavy-duty vehicles, citywide, for the Mayoral Fleet. According to Rocky DiRico,DSNY’s Deputy Commissioner of Support Services, some of the early savings (rent, utilities, etc.) came from termination of leased space in old buildings occupied by the city.
The BME currently allocates weekly truck and tonnage targets to each of its 59 districts. These targets are closely monitored to ensure that productivity improvement goals are met. The department must constantly evaluate routes and tonnage in their districts to achieve these targets. However, over the past few years the BME has had to deal with its share of budget cuts. “Each Bureau of Operation (within DSNY) was required to submit revised spending plans. Each plan had to be carefully assessed with respect to sustainability, community service and its overall impact on the operation,” says DiRico.
An Environmentally Friendly Fleet Program
Over the past 10 to 15 years, the BME has been focused on mitigating poor air quality, says DiRico. “The BME was able to address this need by using cleaner diesel fuel, Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel (<15 ppm), in 2001 which was prior to Federal mandate in October 2006), incorporating electronically-controlled clean-diesel engines and retrofitting more than 1,000 On and Off-road equipment with advanced diesel exhaust after-treatment—Diesel Particulate Filter and Diesel Oxidation Catalyst.”
The BME’s first biofuels experience was back in 2000 when they became the first Mayoral Agency (NYC) to deploy a fleet of Flexible Fuel Vehicles with six E85 fueling stations citywide. As a result of a successful pilot, in 2007, the BME switched its entire diesel fleet to operate on B5 biodiesel (soy). B5 is 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent ULSD. To date, the BME has dispensed well more than 40 million gallons of B5 through their current supplier, Castle Oil Corporation. In the very near future, the BME will switch to seasonal use of B20 citywide (20% Biodiesel & 80% ULSD). The B20 pilot is currently ongoing). In addition, in 2009, DSNY participated in a DOE-sponsored “Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project” which included a one-year demonstration of a hydrogen fueling station and the use of a fuel cell vehicle. The H2 station was installed by Shell Hydrogen and the fuel cell vehicle (Chevy Equinox) was provided by General Motors via Project Driveway. This project concluded at the end of 2011.
Not only has the BME reduced noise, emissions and fuel consumption, a number of years ago, the BME adopted pack-at-idle technology (no speed-up during compaction cycle). Traditionally, engine speed-up was used to accelerate the compaction-cycle. Engine speed up consumes more fuel and tends to increase noise levels during the compaction cycle. Pack-at-idle technology mitigates these conditions and the BME wanted to take advantage of this for its fleets.
The BME has also helped pioneer the development of the nation’s first heavy-duty rear-loading CNG- and diesel-powered hybrid-electric refuse trucks. In fact, in 2006, the BME joined the CalStart Hybrid Truck User’s Forum (HTUF), Hybrid Refuse Truck Working Group. The goal of the HTUF is to advance the commercialization of advanced hybrid technologies. Since the BME has joined the working group, and by working with various suppliers, the HTUF Working Group has helped accelerate the commercialization of heavy-duty hybrid (electric and hydraulic) refuse-collection trucks. Not only has the BME attended and showcased hybrids, they have also presented at various HTUF Conferences.
As the BME implements a vigilant, sustainable and environmentally friendly “Fleet Program”, it does not come without its challenges, says DiRico. “As a city we now focus on reducing greenhouse gases. Heavy-duty vocational vehicles are much more challenging to green due to limited space, work environment, performance and power requirements. The BME is predominantly a heavy-duty fleet and we have definitely had our share of hurdles to overcome.” Some of the challenges include identifying an environmentally friendly, sustainable, fuel efficient and cost-effective technology; improving fleet reliability and productivity; and operational transparency. “Our refuse trucks have very limited space and very stringent operational requirements. To overcome some of the challenges, we work closely with the OEM (Original equipment Manufacturers) and their engineers, says DiRico. “We must carefully consider each technology to make sure it does not have a negative impact the operation or the integrity of the entire vehicle. We are also examining the body-hydraulics to see if we can operate this system more efficiently (try to reduce the parasitic loads of the body hydraulic system).”
Maintaining the Fleet
DiRico points out that the BME was named the Center of Excellence because they have a very efficient and stringent preventative maintenance (PM) program which is aimed at preventative maintenance and stability of operations. Working with almost 7,000 vehicles, The BME’s goal is to evaluate vehicles every 40 days. “That number of days represents the closet number of days to when the average vehicle will have 300 hours of service on it. Now, 250 to 300 hours of service on a vehicle is a suggested PM point. So, instead of relying on the driver to say, ‘I just hit 250 hours, I have to bring my truck in.’ We perform the truck check on the 40th day,” says DiRico.
He does point out that if a truck is scheduled for maintenance and it doesn’t have 300 hours on it, the oil may not be changed but a safety check will be performed which includes looking at the lights, brakes, batteries, wipers, glass, etc. “We still get to see it, inspect it and make sure it is safe for the streets,” says DiRico. Based on an algorithm associated with the average hours (miles consumed) in a given period, 40 days will generally bring a truck to the point where its supposed to be serviced. However, stresses DiRico, if the truck happened to be parked, it didn’t run, was out of commission for a number of days, had punctured tires, etc., the truck is still inspected for safety and maintenance reasons—they just won’t change the oil.
The BME does have an oil analysis system that has allowed them to stretch the maintenance cycles. If the oil analysis finds that the oil is still good, that may allow the truck to stretch the oil’s life without voiding the warranty. “We still don’t want to stretch it too far because we still want to see the truck for safety purposes. By doing the PM and safety checks, it keeps the breakdowns at a minimum and missing any collection targets almost non-existent, something for which we are always striving.”
Through the BME’s PM program, on a typical day, over 100 trucks in the fleet are undergoing PM. However, there are planned spares that are still out on the street doing the job, allowing for a continuously operating fleet. When minor repairs (anything from a fan belt to body cylinder) are needed, they are generally completed within two days, while major repairs (such as an engine, transmission, body, etc.) take about five to seven days. “We strive to as much as possible to have our outages planned, instead of doing emergency repairs. All of these steps and strategies allow us to be the center of excellence,” says DiRico.
Looking Ahead
In 2007, Mayor, Michael Bloomberg implemented PlaNYC which mandates a 30 percent reduction in overall (buildings and fleet) greenhouse gases by 2017. To meet PlaNYC’s goals over the next five years, the BME is will be continuously implementing strategies such as:
- Buildings GHG Reduction Plans
- HVAC Retrofits: Install energy-efficient (electronically controlled) heating and air-conditioning systems
- Motion Sensors: Turn ON lights upon sensing motion in a room
- Lighting Retrofits: Install energy efficient lighting (T12 to T10)
- Steam Traps Replace: Allows the return of condensation without the loss of steam (heat)
- Peak Load Management: Reduce building electrical load during peak demand
- Solar PV Pilot Project: Reduce load on electric grid (use the sun’s energy)
- Purchase fuel-efficient vehicles
- Alternative technology/fuels: Carbon friendly fuels (i.e. CNG)
- Fleet down-sizing: Less vehicles = less fuel
- Fleet right-sizing: Perform work function with a smaller, fuel efficient vehicle
- Less idling: Equals less fuel consumption
- Reduce overall miles driven: Equals less fuel consumption
- Fleet GHG Reduction Plans
Says DiRico, “Pilot projects have helped us (manufactures too) understand the dynamics (lessons-learned) of new technologies and alternative fuel. Pilot projects also help engineers go beyond pen and paper.”
For more information about the New York City Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Motor Equipment, contact Vito Turso, Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and Community Affairs at (646) 885-5020 or visit the DSNY Web site at www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/home/home.shtml.
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The BME uses approximately 5,700 vehicles that include:
- 2,230 collection trucks
- 450 mechanical street sweepers
- 275 specialized collection trucks
- 365 salt/sand spreaders
- 298 front end loaders, and
- 2,360 various other support vehicles
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Awards
- 2005: Environmental Quality Award (EPA Region 2)
- 2009: Vocational Fleet of the Year (Fleet Owner Magazine)
- 2010: Clean Cities Success Stories (DOE / MotorWeek)
- 2010: #16 Government Green Fleet (Gov’t Fleet Magazine)
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Muscling Through Hurricane Sandy and the Aftermath
Through the BME’s regular PM program, DiRico stresses that by maintaining the steps they take to keep the trucks in commission, it leaves him in a very stong fleet status position. “It doesn’t matter whether it is a hurricane or a sunny day, the way we are built and structured, we always have enough trucks.” Through a detailed emergency preparedness plan, other preparations included knowing what facilities and equipment were in vulnerable areas based on flood zone maps. Anyone that was on low ground or in the line of the storm was moved to a higher place. “That allowed us to be in the best position we could possibly be. If we had not moved some of the equipment that we had out of the flood zone areas, they may have been out of commission. Now, as a result of what happened with Sandy, we will be closer to perfection because we learned a lot. There were certain parts of the city, mainly around the water lines that became more vulnerable than what the flood maps indicated.”
Another step that was taken involved protecting the ability to communicate between the facilities (phones, computers, etc.). DiRico explains that when you are preparing for something of this nature you expect to lose power in certain areas. Therefore, all of the facilities have portable generators that are assigned to different district locations for when it happens. The generator preparedness plan isolates circuits in each garage so that when something like that happens, the generator gets deployed at the location and the specific subpanel that would feed those essential circuits is going to keep operating. That way, the supervisor can report and communicate from his desk and trucks can be fueled. Essential circuits are also identified in the garages—the fuel pumps, fire suppression and fire alarms, the lights above the fuel pumps, the computers, the office, etc. They all quickly return to service if the building loses power. Says DiRico, “Ultimately, sometime in the near future, we are hoping that our collection trucks will have auxiliary power built into them—meaning we will have a hybrid truck that provides 40 amps of short power that you can use if you needed to. We are in the process of collaborating and partnering with different manufacturers and design groups to have our truck modified so they can have auxiliary power.”
When it came to cleanup, the fleet worked around the clock to haul away the debris and in these particular circumstances, the 40-day PM strategy goes out the window. “Since the vehicles working 20 hours a day, in 5 days you are already at 100 hours and in 15 days you are at 300 hours. In a case like this, what you do is try to identify those vehicles that are working long and hard hours and have them relieved by another vehicle so that you can PM them before damage occurs. In this case, the vehicle’s fueling record was used,” says DiRico. In addition, when there were breakdowns on the street—flat tires, etc.—mobile repair trucks were deployed out to the field to make running repairs right on the ground.
DiRico agrees with Commissioner John Doherty that the hardest part of Hurricane Sandy was being ready to shift over to snow if they needed to do so. “Just as we suspected, we did have to shift, and did so with success because of the integrity and structure of our Operations Leadership.”