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TO: |
Roger Stancil, Town Manager |
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FROM: |
Steve Spade, Transportation Director |
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SUBJECT: |
Project Ordinance for a Transportation Capital Grant |
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DATE: |
December 4, 2006 |
The attached ordinance would establish a project budget for a transit capital grant that will be used to replace nine 40-foot buses and add four 40-foot buses to the bus fleet.
Chapel Hill Transit operates a fleet of 86 buses ranging in age from four to 19 years old. The national standard fleet age is seven years. A plan has been developed to bring the existing fleet within the national average and to provide a modest expansion over the next five years.
On July 31, 2006, the Town of Chapel Hill solicited bids for the purchase of multi-type vehicles over a five-year period. Replacements and additions to the bus fleet were included in this solicitation. The Town awarded a bid to the Gillig Corporation on October 9, 2006 for the initial purchase of 13 forty-foot, diesel low floor buses and three 40-foot hybrid electric buses.
The Town has received funds from a variety of federal and State appropriations for bus fleet replacement and expansion. In FY 2006 and FY 2007, the Town of Chapel Hill has been awarded $1,833,509 in federal funds by the Federal Transit Administration. On March 16, 2006, the State of North Carolina announced that the Town of Chapel Hill had received an allocation of Federal Transit Administration Section 5309 funds of $3,984,000 from the North Carolina Statewide Bus and Bus Facilities earmark. The earmark, combined with previous allocations, increases the total amount of federal funds available for this project to $5,817,509.
Transit Capital Investment Program (Section 5309)
The Federal Transit Administration approved a grant totaling $4,800,000 for the purchase of replacement buses and buses to expand the bus fleet on November 8, 2006. The federal portion of the grant will provide 83 percent ($3,984,000). The Town of Chapel Hill will submit an application to the N.C. Public Transportation Division requesting 8 percent ($384,000) in matching funds.
The Town’s matching share for this grant ($432,000) will come from the Transportation Capital Reserve Fund.
That the Council enact the attached project ordinance.