The Chapel Hill Town Council heard a resounding message during its budget work session Wednesday: the town needs new buses.
Town Manager Roger Stancil said replacing older buses is a critical need for the town, and he's proposed allocating $400,000 to the transit department's budget to finance new buses in the coming fiscal year.
The town's older buses require more maintenance and cause significant delays when they break down, said Brian Litchfield, director of Chapel Hill Transit.
"They are older than the freshman class coming in that will be riding them next year," Litchfield said in his presentation before the council Wednesday.
Since 2007, the transit department's number of fixed route miles between road calls has fallen 46 percent from the industry standard of 30,000 miles to about 16,000 miles in between road calls.
Litchfield said buses breaking down while serving customers used to be a rarity for the department, but now it's common for many of his mechanics to be out servicing buses on the road.
"Every other day, we’re experiencing something like that," he said.
The town council discussed ways it could begin addressing its bus stops — many of which are falling into disrepair.
"If people feel like they’re second-class citizens standing in the middle of a mud patch waiting for a bus, then some won’t take the bus," said Councilwoman Donna Bell. "And others are going to resent taking the bus."
