Bus Fleet Replacement
Background
 Historically, the district has invested adequately in fleet replacement,
but in recent years capital expenditures on fleet replacements have
decreased. The Comprehensive Facilities Recommendations address this
situation with a Transportation Improvement Plan that focuses not only
on capital expenditure requirements but also on safety issues,
reliability issues, and the cost effectiveness of fleet maintenance and
repair.
The district has had a long-standing program in place for the
replacement of buses based
on years of service (10) and/or mileage (160,000).
Key elements of plan:
The current fleet consists of 127 buses with model years ranging from
1991 to 2003.
The Transportation Improvement Plan calls for keeping the bus fleet at
its current number
of vehicles, but replacing 113 of the buses over the next 10 years. The
estimated cost of nearly $7 million will be somewhat offset by the sale
of used buses.
Benefits:
The district expects to derive a number of benefits from the plan,
including
- Higher levels of safety and reliability in the fleet
- Greater control of ongoing maintenance costs
- Depreciation is offset by decreased maintenance and repair costs
Remaining steps:
The following action steps are required to finalize the plan:
- Establish, document and approve a final set of replacement criteria
and a long-term replacement plan for the active bus fleet.
- Establish a funding mechanism that supports the long-term fleet
replacement plan.
- Review the size and composition of the spare bus fleet in the context
of the approved replacement plan.
- Calculate and plan for the budgetary impacts expected from
implementation
of the fleet replacement plan.
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