A college professor of mine used to poke fun at ignorance by saying (sarcastically, of course), “my mind is made up; don’t confuse me with facts.”

Two days ago, riding home from work, I saw someone I hadn’t seen in a while on the bus. She and her husband seem to dislike change just for the sake of disliking change. (Some may accuse me of this, also, but I try to have, and demonstrate, good reasons.)

The local transit authority whose buses we ride has, in the past couple of years, been buying and trying hybrid buses to replace the diesels that have dominated their fleet forever. Needless to say, she and her husband don’t like them.

Let me tell you why I like them, just from the point of view of a rider. First, they are more comfortable (though the diesels of the same vintage are, also), they have a nicer ride (thanks to an odd weight distribution) the lights don’t flicker (thanks to a big, and therefore more stable electrical system) and they are quieter (thanks to the engine idling at highway speed).

Anyway, her complaints are that they break down too much (though my experience has a particular diesel model breaking down much more frequently) and that they don’t save that much fuel.

“How much?” I asked.

“A gallon,” she answered.

“A gallon per what?”

“Per fill up.”

As my mind contorted its way through my review of that conversation, I decided to do the smart thing, and look it up.

CDTA repports that they have been carefully monitoring. They report an average of 5.0 MPG for the hybrids, and 3.4 MPG for the diesels. That would make these “fill ups” around 2-3 gallons. Not bloody likely as a hybrid will burn that much just going from Schenectady to Albany.

Always be wary of rumours. ‘Nuf sed.