Santa Marians riding public transit will soon notice some new buses rolling around town.
Earlier this month, Santa Maria city officials announced that the city has purchased three 2009 diesel buses for Santa Maria Area Transit. The 40-foot-long Gillig diesel buses will replace three older vehicles in the fleet.
“This helps us keep up with our service demand of 96,000 to 100,000 riders per month,” transit manager Austin O’Dell said in a release to the media.
The buses, which O’Dell called “efficient and technologically advanced,” each seat 41 passengers, have two wheelchair stations, and boast additional space for 42 standing passengers. The buses can also “kneel” at the curb, meaning they physically lower for passengers to board, and are equipped with security cameras and electronic fare boxes.
The city bought the buses for $377,342 each, with federal and local transportation funding. They will be painted in a new blue-and-yellow paint scheme, and most likely run on busier routes, such as Route 3 and Route 1. The cost to ride the buses will be the usual $1.25, $1 for students, and 60 cents for seniors and people with disabilities.
Along with the new buses, SMAT is buying two more buses and six vans with $1.4 million in federal economic stimulus funds. According to the release, those vehicles are on order and are expected to arrive in about 18 months.
The city is expected to continue this trend by buying more vehicles in the next three years to update the aging fleet and reduce maintenance costs. SMAT maintains a total of 16 buses, each of which has an estimated 12-year life span.
This article appears in Nov 12-19, 2009.