Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

 

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator

 

CC:

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

 

Date:

 

July 24, 2013

RE:

Request to Purchase Three (3) Heavy-Duty Fixed Route Buses Off Brownsville, Texas Contract -$1,275,000

 

Please place the following item a future agenda for the City Commission meeting:

 

Background:

Over the past three years the entire fixed route fleet has been replaced. Six of these new vehicles were heavy-duty buses with a life expectancy of 12 years. The remaining six vehicles were light-duty buses with a maximum life of 5 years. With the changes in routing six of the original fleet (purchased in 2000) was maintained in order to allow for changes and/or expansion in service. These vehicles are still being used on some routes due to passenger overloads and additional service requirements.

 

As we continue to make improvements to our service and as our original fleet continues to accumulate miles (all in excess of 100,000 over life expectancy) newer buses will be required in order to avoid service failures. In our efforts to acquire new vehicles we decided to utilize a “piggyback” opportunity from an existing contract. In March 2013 staff requested that the Gillig Corporation explore and provide existing contracts that included options for the purchase of vehicles that met our service requirements. Gillig Corporation was able to locate an appropriate vehicle option with the City of Brownsville, Texas.

 

In May 2013 Lawrence City Commission authorized an Interlocal Agreement (see attached) between the City of Brownsville, Texas and the City of Lawrence for the potential purchase of three heavy-duty fixed route buses.

 

Over the last few months we have worked with Gillig Corporation to define vehicle design and option parts that would work best for our service environment. In doing so we decided to pursue two (2) heavy-duty, 30-foot, low-floor diesel powered buses (see photo) and one (1) heavy-duty 30-foot, low-floor hybrid powered bus (see photo). These three (3) buses will ultimately be used on higher capacity routes. These buses have been FTA/Altoona tested for 12 year/500,000 miles. They will be fully accessible and will be equipped with bicycle racks.

 

Recommendation:

Staff recommends the purchase of three (3) heavy-duty 30-foot buses (as described above) to replace vehicles of the fixed route fleet. In order to expedite our efforts to acquire replacement vehicles staff decided to utilize the current Brownsville, Texas Contract with Gillig Corporation.

 

Funding and Cost:

Under this “piggyback” opportunity staff would like to pursue the purchase of two (2) heavy-duty, 30-foot, low-floor diesel powered buses ($350,000/bus) and one (1) heavy-duty 30-foot, low-floor hybrid powered bus ($575,000/bus).The total estimated cost of these buses would be $1,275,000. Of this $1,058,250 will come from existing Federal grants. The local match of $216,750 will be provided out of the .05 Transit Equipment Fund.

 

Action Request:

If appropriate, authorize staff to acquire three (3) fixed-route vehicles as replacements for three (3) existing fixed-route transit vehicles which have surpassed both the manufacturer and Federal Transit Administration useful life requirements. These vehicles would be purchased off of the existing Brownsville, Texas Contract with Gillig Corporation.