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Federal Aid To Keep Bus Wheels Turning

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: March 21, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - The wheels might be coming off the economy, but Pasco County buses will keep on rolling through the recession with federal stimulus money.

With an aging fleet of 28 buses, Pasco County Public Transportation can replace up to 11 buses with federal aid, according to Michael H. Carroll, the county's transportation manager.

With more and more riders using PCPT, its buses have been racking up plenty of miles, Carroll observed. The oldest bus dates back to the origins of the fixed-route county bus system, in 1998, Carroll noted.

The typical life span for a public transit bus, Carroll said, is 500,000 miles or 12 years.

So the $3,122,487 federal stimulus for PCPT's West Pasco operation certainly comes at a good time, Carroll said. Another $1.35 million will go toward the bus service in East Pasco.

"It's pretty much a done deal," Carroll commented about the fast-track stimulus grant. Applications for the money are due by the end of June.

Without the federal financial aid, the county might be hard pressed to find the money for replacement buses because county tax revenue is dropping during the recession.

The price tag for one bus alone usually approaches $340,000. "They're expensive vehicles, you'd better believe it."

Pasco's order for new buses will help create jobs at manufacturing plants, Carroll explained. Factories probably will take 12 to 14 months to build Pasco's buses.

A new bus with a 35-foot chassis will seat up to 33 passengers, he added.

The diesel engines in buses will meet the latest engine-emission standards, Carroll emphasized.

"They don't spew as much into the air," Carroll said. "A lot cleaner for the environment."

Pasco officials wanted the biggest bang for its bucks, so they passed on ordering buses with hybrid engine systems that might get higher fuel mileage. At around $550,000 a piece, the buses with hybrid engines would present the county with considerably higher initial costs.

Stimulus money also might help the county build more bus-stop shelters, Carroll said. The federal funds could supplement the Penny for Pasco sales tax revenue earmarked for shelters.

The county is waiting on a road widening project along U.S. 19 before building the shelters. The job of adding continuous right-turn lanes to U.S. 19 is now slated to get under way in 2010.

Meanwhile, bus ridership has been fluctuating, Carroll reports. High gasoline prices last summer fueled a surge of bus riders tired of the cost of filling the gas tank on their cars, he recalled.

Ridership then dipped by late last year as employees commuting to work by bus lost their jobs, Carroll theorized. Gas prices have also dropped by roughly 50 percent since their $4-plus-a-gallon high.

The ridership numbers are showing an uptick again, Carroll said. PCPT bus drivers tell him some riders either have found new jobs or continue hunting for jobs.

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