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Diesel vs electric is a false dichotomy. Many cities in north america have natural-gas powered buses, and a lot of taxi fleets are CNG as well. Then there's also old-style cable cars and overhead electric lines scattered around, too.

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CNG misses the win from regenerative braking on a massive vehicle in traffic. That’s going to reduce the fuel burned even if the systems are comparable in emissions and also reduces the particulate emissions from brake pads which are linked to various health problems.

> CNG misses the win from regenerative braking on a massive vehicle in traffic

CNG hybrid busses are gaining traction where I'm from in Europe https://www.vanhool.be/en/public-transport/exquicity-brt/cng...

Good clarification: I should have specified that as direct drive since hybrid approaches can clearly make sense and I'd bet can be easier to engineer since the engine doesn't need to handle variable speed and power demands.

Which are all loud, toxic, uncomfortable and expensive to maintain.

Probably less efficient than converting the natural gas to electricity too?

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