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Pittsburgh, Pa., Regional Transit to Buy 15 Electric Buses

The purchase of 137 new buses over the next two years will include at least 15 electric models to be used with the agency's proposed Bus Rapid Transit system to improve service between Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh.

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(TNS) — Pittsburgh Regional Transit expects to spend $117.9 million to buy 137 new buses over the next two years and says it could replace more than half its fleet over the next five years.

The authority's Performance Oversight Committee on Thursday recommended that the full board approve contracts with two bus providers when it meets this week. The purchase will include 15 electric buses that will be used with the agency's proposed Bus Rapid Transit system to improve service between Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh.

Under the recommended contracts, Gillig of California will provide 40-foot clean diesel buses, while New Flyer, a Canadian company with manufacturing facilities in Alabama, will provide 60-foot articulated buses, including the 15 electric vehicles.

In the first order, New Flyer will be paid $100.1 million to provide the electric buses and 92 others by the end of 2023. The diesel buses will cost $794.400 each, plus $12,138 each for 54 that will have special BRT branding. The electric buses will cost $1,414,000 each, plus $8,065 each for branding.

Gillig, which doesn't make the longer buses, will be paid $17.8 million for 30 of its buses that cost $553,775 each, plus other costs. Its buses will be delivered by the end of 2024.

Don Rivetti, the authority's chief operating officer for maintenance, said the proposed contract would allow the agency to buy an additional 50 articulated buses and 270 smaller buses at the same prices over the next five years if it wants to. But the authority isn't required to buy additional buses and could turn over its contract to another transit firm that wants to buy the same buses.

Overall, the agency has a fleet of about 720 buses. If it buys all the buses it can under the contract, it would replace more than half of its fleet.

All buses bought with federal funds must be replaced within 12 years or 500,000 miles, whichever comes first.

©2022 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.