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closeNew buses, which may include wireless Internet service, surveillance cameras and air conditioning, may not hit Whatcom County roads as soon as transit officials previously hoped.
Whatcom Transportation Authority planned to spend about $16 million to replace 38 of its aging buses with new, high-tech biodiesel-capable buses. It planned to use up to $13 million in funding from the Federal Transit Administration, money that had been previously all but guaranteed for bus replacements. Not anymore.
The FTA recently told local transit officials it couldn’t contribute any grant money because it spent all of it on five other urban areas, including Seattle.
“We were a little surprised to hear that things had changed,” said Steve Clancy, WTA’s director of finance.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, DEverett, has requested a $1 million earmark for the bus replacement. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell refuse to release to the public their earmark requests.
Now WTA is re-examining its options for buying the buses, and options include delaying the purchase or borrowing to pay for them. Using other, already-obtained FTA money, WTA plans to buy the first five buses and put them into service in mid-2009. Those buses will go to Sumas and Birch Bay as part of the flex-route service, where buses deviate from fixed routes to pick up and drop off riders.
But WTA doesn’t know how to pay for the remaining 33 buses, which are 62 percent of its fleet.
“We have multiple options in front of us in terms of being able to do this,” Clancy said.
Some of the 33 buses have traveled more than 600,000 miles. They may have more than 1 million miles before they’re replaced, Clancy said.
In the meantime, WTA is spending substantially more than before to repair and maintain the buses, which are experiencing failing transmissions and problems with wheelchair ramps, doors and suspensions, said Pete Stark, WTA’s director of fleet and facilities.
“We’re having higher maintenance costs to keep the buses reliable,” he said.
Staff members plan to bring all the options to the board, which has the final say, in August. At that time, they’ll also bring a recommendation on which company to contract with for building the new buses.
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Caregivers
The Courtyard -
Accounts Receivable - Contracts Manager
Sicklesteel Cranes, Inc. -
Finance Director
WTA -
Research & Development Engineer
Samson Rope -
Contracts Assistant, Financial Services
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
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