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By Marilyn Miller
POSTED: 01:50 p.m. EDT, Jul 02, 2009
Beacon Journal staff writer
Stimulus dollars are working for Metro RTA, adding 19 new buses to its fleet.
The $8.3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will be used to add the buses and to update its main facility on Kenmore Boulevard.
The new buses will be in service by the end of next week. Drivers are being trained this week on the newest long-distance bus.
''We are in need of replacing 83 buses in the next 24 months, and this puts a big dent in what we would have had to spend,'' said Kirt Conrad, director of planning. ''The money allowed us to replace the worse buses in our fleet, instead of having to keep buses longer on the road that are less reliable and more expensive because of maintenance costs.''
He said the money also will replace six bus shelters and purchase 105 trash cans for sheltered bus stops.
Those who commute to work to Cleveland by Metro will ride in style on six larger MCI Over the Road Coach buses with plane-like features: reclining seats, individual overhead lights and air knobs, numbered seats, seatbelts and overhead luggage areas.
''It's the first set of buses that come with seatbelts,'' said Conrad, ''which provides more safety for passengers who take the longer ride on buses that travel at a higher rate of speed.''
Metro officials said 260 passengers use the Northeast service to Cleveland daily.
The new 57-seat buses are also equipped with new flooring and bike racks in a storage area located under the bus and will also have WiFi capability sometime this year.
The newly designed red/purple buses will replace the aging fleet of white with purple striped NOVA buses that are 12 years old. Each bus cost $497,000.
Four new buses will be added to the regular service routes.
The 40-foot, low-floor Gillig buses will replace older diesel buses. They also are called ''kneeling buses'' because they sit lower to the curb, making it easier for people to enter and exit the bus.
At the front of the bus are individual seats with arm rests rather than the bench-type seats. They also have two bike racks in the front of the bus. Each bus costs $340,000.
Nine Ford Eldorado Metro SCAT buses will be used in the regular Metro SCAT service and also will replace older models in its fleet of 70 smaller buses. Each bus cost $65,000.
All buses are 100 percent wheelchair accessible.
Metro also plans to use $4 million of the additonal funds for rehabbing Metro headquarters at 416 Kenmore Blvd., where the buses are stationed.
One garage will be rebuilt and another will get a new roof, five floor hoists to raise the buses will be replaced in the maintenance service garage and the parking lot will be resurfaced. It will be the first major renovation since the Metro facility was built in 1983.
Metro officials say the agency is in good financial shape thanks to the passage last year of the additional sales tax. Metro's revenue is up about $5 million over 2008.
For 2009 Metro has budgeted $36.5 million for operating expenses compared to $32 million in 2008.
''Ridership is down by about 12 percent [January to May] compared to last year,'' Conrad said. ''Half of our ridership is work related and with the economy, work trips are down because fewer people are working.''
The stimulus money also has a local effect on Akron and Ohio-based businesses. All the buses have RCA Rubber of Akron flooring and some of the Ford components are made locally and in Ohio.
The engineering and design of the facility is being done by GPD, an Akron design firm. Local bids for other work will be submitted later this year.
Conrad said Metro will apply for additonal competitive funds to try to upgrade its fleet even more and to look into solar paneling, which has been projected to save 25 to 33 percent in energy costs, at the fleet headquarters.
Metro has seen that level of savings in operating costs at the new downtown transit facility on Broadway, which has the largest solar array of any building in Ohio, using geothermal heating and cooling panels. The Metro headquarters' solar paneling would be twice that size.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.
Beacon Journal staff writer
Stimulus dollars are working for Metro RTA, adding 19 new buses to its fleet.
The $8.3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will be used to add the buses and to update its main facility on Kenmore Boulevard.
The new buses will be in service by the end of next week. Drivers are being trained this week on the newest long-distance bus.
''We are in need of replacing 83 buses in the next 24 months, and this puts a big dent in what we would have had to spend,'' said Kirt Conrad, director of planning. ''The money allowed us to replace the worse buses in our fleet, instead of having to keep buses longer on the road that are less reliable and more expensive because of maintenance costs.''
He said the money also will replace six bus shelters and purchase 105 trash cans for sheltered bus stops.
Those who commute to work to Cleveland by Metro will ride in style on six larger MCI Over the Road Coach buses with plane-like features: reclining seats, individual overhead lights and air knobs, numbered seats, seatbelts and overhead luggage areas.
''It's the first set of buses that come with seatbelts,'' said Conrad, ''which provides more safety for passengers who take the longer ride on buses that travel at a higher rate of speed.''
Metro officials said 260 passengers use the Northeast service to Cleveland daily.
The new 57-seat buses are also equipped with new flooring and bike racks in a storage area located under the bus and will also have WiFi capability sometime this year.
The newly designed red/purple buses will replace the aging fleet of white with purple striped NOVA buses that are 12 years old. Each bus cost $497,000.
Four new buses will be added to the regular service routes.
The 40-foot, low-floor Gillig buses will replace older diesel buses. They also are called ''kneeling buses'' because they sit lower to the curb, making it easier for people to enter and exit the bus.
At the front of the bus are individual seats with arm rests rather than the bench-type seats. They also have two bike racks in the front of the bus. Each bus costs $340,000.
Nine Ford Eldorado Metro SCAT buses will be used in the regular Metro SCAT service and also will replace older models in its fleet of 70 smaller buses. Each bus cost $65,000.
All buses are 100 percent wheelchair accessible.
Metro also plans to use $4 million of the additonal funds for rehabbing Metro headquarters at 416 Kenmore Blvd., where the buses are stationed.
One garage will be rebuilt and another will get a new roof, five floor hoists to raise the buses will be replaced in the maintenance service garage and the parking lot will be resurfaced. It will be the first major renovation since the Metro facility was built in 1983.
Metro officials say the agency is in good financial shape thanks to the passage last year of the additional sales tax. Metro's revenue is up about $5 million over 2008.
For 2009 Metro has budgeted $36.5 million for operating expenses compared to $32 million in 2008.
''Ridership is down by about 12 percent [January to May] compared to last year,'' Conrad said. ''Half of our ridership is work related and with the economy, work trips are down because fewer people are working.''
The stimulus money also has a local effect on Akron and Ohio-based businesses. All the buses have RCA Rubber of Akron flooring and some of the Ford components are made locally and in Ohio.
The engineering and design of the facility is being done by GPD, an Akron design firm. Local bids for other work will be submitted later this year.
Conrad said Metro will apply for additonal competitive funds to try to upgrade its fleet even more and to look into solar paneling, which has been projected to save 25 to 33 percent in energy costs, at the fleet headquarters.
Metro has seen that level of savings in operating costs at the new downtown transit facility on Broadway, which has the largest solar array of any building in Ohio, using geothermal heating and cooling panels. The Metro headquarters' solar paneling would be twice that size.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 01:59 PM, 07/02/2009
What great news for Summit County. It's about time you hear good news these days!!
Akron, OH
Posted 02:40 PM, 07/02/2009
Wow, $340,000 for a bus? I had no idea they were so expensive.
Norton, oh
Posted 03:31 PM, 07/02/2009
It's good to see they are upgrading the SCAT services too. I know someone who frequently has to call several times for a ride home from doctor appointments due the ride not showing up. This is tough on someone suffering major health problems. They need to upgrade the staff who takes calls from these individuals.
uniontown, oh
Posted 04:10 PM, 07/02/2009
They ain't got the people to fill the busses they already have running the streets.
I have only seen the busses tooling around town with one ore two riders and wasting gas a doing it!
Akron, OH
Posted 12:45 PM, 07/23/2009
"Ridership is down by about 12 percent [January to May] compared to last year," Conrad said.
BUT
"Metro's revenue is up about $5 million over 2008."
OK financial wizards... how (without a fare increase) do you increase revenue by $5 million with 12% fewer customers?
This doesn't reflect the windfall from the new .25% county sales tax METRO conned voters into approving last March.
Kirt Conrad must be a genius!
