City of Greater Sudbury Transit will be getting six more popular low rider buses over the next few months if city council does as expected and passes a motion to fund the contract Tuesday evening. City council is traditionally held every second Thursday evening, but there will only be one city council meeting the first Tuesday of July and August.
The staff recommendation by Caroline Hallsworth, general manager of citizen and leisure services, was to award the contract to New Flyer Industries in the total amount of just over $2.53 million, that being the lowest bid meeting all tender specifications.
Purchase financing will be shared with the city paying 66 per cent of the costs for a total of $1.63 million and the province?s Ontario Transit Renewal Program paying the other third for a total of $815,000.
In 2002, council allocated $1.45 million to transit fleet renewal and these funds were allocated for the replacement of five vehicles from the current fleet which have exceeded 18 years of service.
In late May, council approved an additional $800,000 from the equipment replacement reserve fund to complete the 2003 component of the transit renewal program. This included $150,000 of additional funding towards the purchase of five new low floor buses, $200,000 towards expanding the fleet and purchasing two used buses and $450,000 towards refurbishing and rebuilding existing buses.
A staff report says since low floor buses provide a greater degree of accessibility, it is most advantageous to purchase the maximum number of low floor buses within funding allocations.
Because of favourable pricing, Greater Sudbury Transit is now in a position to purchase six low floor buses.
This will enable the city to accelerate the 10-year transit renewal program by one more vehicle in 2003 and allow the city to retire one more 18-year-old vehicle achieving additional maintenance savings.
The new buses are expected to be among the Greater Sudbury Transit Fleet within 43 weeks or early next spring.
