The Valley Transportation Authority's long, strange trip with hydrogen fuel cell buses looks like it could (should) crash. Three years ago the VTA dropped $18 million on the three buses, pushed by a state mandate requiring use of the consummate "five year technology". But a new VTA report out this week "raises troubling questions" about both the technology and cost of the program, according to Gary Richards from the San Jose Mercury News. The biggest troubling question? VTA's hydrogen buses cost $51.66 per mile for fuel, operation and maintenance, compared with $1.61 for the standard 40 foot diesel bus. Ouch. The $2.5 million hydrogen buses (diesel's cost around $400,000) also traveled an average of 1,100 miles between repairs, compared with 6,000 for standard diesels. Good thing they're not planning on refunding this progr... Oh. What's that? It turns out the California Air Resources Board was so enthralled by the expensive, unproven technology that they're ready to commit another $36 million to the program. That's 12 more buses for the Bay Area. I'm not an expert on mass transit, but I am expert on hills. I know they're steep and hard to stop and start on. And I know San Francisco has a lot of them. Because of CARB's fascist-like commitment to zero emissions, VTA was never allowed to consider diesel-hybrid buses, which are widely used in other cities like New York. The fun doesn't stop here, though. CARB has mandated a 15 percent hydrogen fuel cell bus threshold level for California transit authorities with 200 or more diesel buses. I would blame exhaust fumes for CARB's poor judgment, but there aren't any of those. Your guess is as good as mine.