Time and time again, we’ve heard that many of the buses that are part of Chapel Hill Transit’s 99-bus fleet are at the age where they need to be replaced.
To be more specific, 43 of the 99 buses need to be replaced, said Chapel Hill Town Councilman Ed Harrison. When a bus hits 12 years of age, as those 43 buses have, they’re eligible for replacement.
In Chapel Hill, students and residents all use public transit to get to the University, to go to work and to go home on a regular basis. The town is not in a place to have malfunctioning and aging buses in the rotation.
When Chapel Hill approved its budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year, it set aside $400,000 for transit to combat an expected lack of federal funds. Another $653,000 in Orange County sales tax revenue will be set aside for transit as well, according to a memorandum sent to town councilmen by Town Manager Roger Stancil and Business Management Director Ken Pennoyer.
But the cost of a single public transit bus can range anywhere from $400,000 to $600,000, according to Chapel Hill Transit Director Brian Litchfield. And even if the older buses aren’t replaced right away, they cost more to preserve and repair because of their age.
Assuming the transit department uses all of the $1.6 million set aside for them to replace the buses that require it, that’s at best only four buses, a mere fraction of what the town needs.
If the town of Chapel Hill needs to replace or preserve these 43 older buses, that amount of money obviously isn’t going to cut it and a solution needs to be top priority for the town council.
Because of the state and federal funds Chapel Hill has received in the past, it hasn’t designated much money of its own toward transit.
Now it’s time for the town to really dig in its heels and find a way to bring in the necessary money to replace the buses.
