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Federal Aid Will Buy Buses

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By CARL ORTH

corth@suncoastnews.com

Published: March 26, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - The wheels might be coming off the economy, but Pasco County buses will keep 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 riders using PCPT, its buses have been racking up miles, Carroll said. The oldest bus dates back to the origins of the fixed-route county bus system in 1998, Carroll noted.

The typical lifespan 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 comes at a good time, Carroll said. An additional $1.35 million will go toward the bus service in east Pasco.

"It's pretty much a done deal," Carroll said 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 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 said.

The diesel engines in buses will meet the latest emission standards, Carroll said.

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

The county wanted the biggest bang for its buck, so officials passed on ordering buses with hybrid engine systems that might get higher fuel mileage. At about $550,000 each, 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 funding 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 slated to get under way in 2010.

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

Ridership dipped late last year, and Carroll attributed that to employees commuting to work by bus who had lost their jobs. Gas prices also have dropped by roughly half of the $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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