Pueblo City Council considers purchase of two new transit buses
Pueblo City Council is considering a proposed ordinance to purchase two new hybrid diesel city transit buses for an overall price of $1.3 million.
Pueblo was able to opt-in on a purchasing contract with the Department of Enterprise Services in Washington State to order the new buses, which is common when entities are purchasing vehicles in large amounts, according to Director of Transit Ben Valdez.
The two new vehicles will bring Pueblo's fleet of hybrid diesel buses to 5, which will help make the maintenance process more efficient, Valdez said.
"For us in Pueblo Transit, it's kind of a win-win because it will help us get our fleet status to about 90% of the same fleet versus what it was in the past," he said. "And at a 90% similar fleet, it's really beneficial because we will then be able to minimize the amount of spare parts for different makes and models of vehicles and it kind of streamlines that whole process."
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Moreover, the buses have been designed with Pueblo riders in mind, Valdez said, with the aim to give them a cleaner, easier ride with better comfort and safety features on board. At the same time, the new buses will also be a cleaner ride when it comes to the environment.
"I think it's going to push us closer to that green footprint we're looking to get into, it's going to take more fossil fuel emissions off of the streets, it's going to be a better comforted ride, more reliable ride than some of the older (buses) that we're going to retire to put the new ones on the street," Valdez said.
This proposed agreement will be presented for public hearing at the Jan. 24 city council meeting. If approved, the city would submit their order within the following weeks and expects the buses to be ready to hit the streets of Pueblo within about a year or so, the industry standard for these types of orders, he said.
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Contact Chieftain reporter Lacey Latch at llatch@gannett.com or on social media @laceylatch.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo City Council considering purchase of 2 transit buses for $1.3M
