TriMet unveils the first of a fleet of new buses
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PORTLAND, Ore. - TriMet riders will begin stepping foot on new buses in the coming weeks, starting with five that are being rolled out on Thursday.
This is the first time in three years that TriMet has purchased new buses. There will be 55 new ones hitting the pavement - five the first week and three each week after that until they are all in service.
This week, the busy 9-Powell Boulevard and 72-Killingsworth/82nd Avenue lines will get some new buses. Those two lines were chosen for the initial launch because they operate out of the Powell bus facility where maintenance staff can frequently check them out.
Of the 55 buses, 51 are standard diesel and four are hybrids. They feature a streamlined front end with a bigger windshield, larger side windows, a lighter interior color scheme, brighter LED lighting, vinyl seats and a longer, more gradual sloped boarding ramp for riders that use mobility devices.
As far as the price tag, the diesel buses cost $440,691 each (for a total of just over $22 million) and the hybrid buses cost $607,739 each (for a total of just over $2 million). Federal grants are covering 93 percent of the cost.
TriMet's annual bus purchase program was suspended back in 2009 when the economy took a downturn but it has now been reinstated. The goal is to have the entire fleet made up of low-floor buses by 2017 and lower the average age of the bus fleet to eight years by fiscal year 2020. Right now, some of TriMet's buses are more than 20 years old.
TriMet also plans to add another 68 new buses next year, for a total of 123 new buses on the road by 2013.
The buses are being produced by a California company called Gillig.
That intern that you see driving used to work at Trimet but left because they wouldn't give her a leave of absence..
Meet the new bus, same as the old bus.
@QuandoQuandoQuando Some may be fooled again, I won't.
@OliverNicholas Could've fooled me!
Well at least the Occupods can arrive in style now.Â
So for those of us who actually work for a living and actually pay taxes, it looks like we are supporting another boondoggle.Â
Just curious, why not go with natural gas, which we have plenty of in this country, instead of something that we have to import? Are any of the "deciders" backers of OIL? I'm not.
@Rambler really we don't have to import oil. The problem is we export the vast majority that we do have because it sells for a higher price on the international market.
Dang, $167,048 will buy a lot of fuel.... hard to imagine the hybrid will pay for itself
 @kramr I'd imagine they bought a few so they could test them out to see if they're cheaper to fuel, operate, last longer, etc.
What a waste of money.
@sortbait we get it, you don't like anything that doesn't involve corporations destroying the earth or the people of the planet. To me, you really seem like an angry old man who probably sits on his porch yelling at "whippersnappers" to get off your lawn.
 @sortbait Bus fare increase in 3...2...1...
I am happy to hear this because my clothes stink like crap from sitting on those seats that they only replace once a year!
@portlandborn83 two words-bus pants