Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chief Nat Ford on Tuesday unveiled the first of The City's new diesel-electric hybrid Muni buses. The fleet, which will start being used on city streets by the end of this month, will be the third-largest hybrid bus fleet in the nation, according to manufacturer Daimler-Chrysler.

More than half of Muni’s vehicles already run on electricity provided by overhead cables.

The new buses are in line with Proposition I, passed by San Francisco voters in 2004. The law mandates that Muni replace diesel buses that were purchased before 1991 with green-powered vehicles.

The city will put about five hybrid buses into service each week until it reaches its goal of 86 new vehicles.

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The hybrid vehicles will save about 20,000 gallons of gas per vehicle each year, Ford said.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Supervisors give final OK to ban on plastic bags

The Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a ban on plastic checkout bags in large grocery and pharmacy chains.

San Francisco has become the first city in the nation to implement such a ban following Tuesday’s 10-1 vote.

The City’s estimated 54 large grocery chain stores will now have to switch to recyclable paper, compostable plastic bags or reusable bags within about six months, and large pharmacy chains within a year.

BAY PLANNING COMMISSION

Bonds, sustainable projects on annual conference agenda

The Bay Planning Coalition will host the 20th annual San Francisco Bay Decisionmakers Conference Thursday, at which panel discussions will be held on infrastructure bonds and environmental and economically sustainable projects.

Thursday’s conference, entitled “Investing in the Future: Infrastructure and the Environment,” will also feature a sneak peak of Ron Blatman’s “Save the Bay” series, which is slated to air on public television in 2008.