SPRINGDALE -- Ozark Regional Transit buses must be upgraded soon, said Joel Gardner, executive director, during a transit board meeting Wednesday.
"Our fleet is aged -- it's not aging -- it's aged," Gardner said.
At A Glance (w/photo)
By The Mile
Ozark Regional Transit has already trekked hundreds of thousands of miles this year, thanks to expansions and additions of routes and services, transit employees said. This past July, transit vehicles drove 104,255 miles total, compared to 76,468 miles the same time a year ago. The transit fleet has driven 602,941 miles from January to July compared with 465,650 miles over the same time a year ago.
Source: Ozark Regional Transit
Recently, one bus engine seized and another had 500,000 or more miles. Both had to be replaced, Gardner said. The timing meant Gardner had do something quickly to meet demands for service, especially because NorthWest Arkansas Community College classes were starting back up.
"I needed to put a vehicle on the road by Monday," Gardner said.
Gardner decided to use about $238,000 in grant money to buy and outfit four used buses and trade in the transit's two unusable buses. The purchase didn't cost the transit system extra but he planned to save the money to buy a new bus.
The board approved Gardner's purchase of the used buses Wednesday.
The additional buses aren't enough, Gardner said. The transit must upgrade its fleet, especially as the bus system grows, he said.
Among the 29 vehicles the transit has, 24 are either at or have exceeded their useful life expectancy, according to documents Gardner passed out to board members Wednesday. The average age of the transit's vehicles is six years old and the average mileage is about 160,000 miles, he said. About eight vehicles are at or above 200,000 miles, documents show.
Getting better buses is becoming more important as the transit system finishes adding routes and expanding services, Gardner said. This year, the transit added routes in Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville and West Fork.
Ridership on fixed routes and para-transportation kyrocketed this year over previous years as reliability and services have grown, said Kendall Luallen, senior analyst at the transit. Para-transportation alone went up by 31 percent systemwide, including Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties, between January and July this year over the same time period a year ago, transit records show.
"We are growing so much that we can't wait around," said Jerre Van Hoose, board chairman.
At the same time, the transit is slightly over budget so far this year, partly, because of fluctuating fuel costs and over-time expenses linked to more routes, said Jim McCulloch, assistant general manager of finance and administration. Gardner said he will continue to seek money to pay for buses.
Gardner and Adam Waddell, associate director of Razorback Transit, plan to attend a Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission advisory committee meeting Thursday to convince members they should use part of an anticipated $6.65 million in grant money for the purchase of buses locally. The pair are asking for about $696,000 to split, said Jeff Hawkins, commission executive director.
The cost of a single Razorback bus is about $435,000, Waddell said. A bus for Ozark Regional Transit capable of holding about 25 people costs about $65,000, but outfitting the bus adds $10,000, Gardner said.
"We're at a critical time for public transit in Northwest Arkansas," Waddell said.
If public transportation is going to continue to grow, having reliable money to replace buses is "critical," Waddell said. Reliable public transportation will help alleviate traffic congestion and give more people access to services like medical care, he said.
Gardner and Waddle said they didn't want to wait until a large number of their buses quit and had to be replaced. They want to purchase some new vehicles every year or so to rotate out their fleets, they said.
The two bus transit systems have jointly asked for money from the commission for three years, including this year, but have never been awarded money, Hawkins said. Waddell said he remains optimistic that public transit will see some commission funding this year.
No decision will be made Thursday, but the committee may ask questions, Hawkins said. Later, they will decide who to recommend for funding, and the commission will make the final decision Sept. 24, he said.
Gardner said any money, even money left over from other street projects, would help Ozark Regional Transit.
"We must invest in our fleet," Gardner said.
NW News on 08/21/2014