AGENDA #4a

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Mary Lou Kuschatka, Transportation Director

SUBJECT:       Additional Information Regarding Operation of Small 12-Year buses

DATE:             April 24, 2002

This document provides additional information on the relative costs of operating different sizes of transit vehicles.

DISCUSSION

The information submitted to the Manager on April 3 discussed the relative strengths and weaknesses of the operation of 12-year standard small buses and five-year small buses.

Several agencies that operate the 12-year standard small bus were contacted to determine operating costs. That information has been added to the chart originally presented and is shown below in italics.

The table below presents some of this information.

Type of vehicle	Purchase price	Replacement cost/ year	MPG	Fuel cost/mile	Repair cost/mile	Operating cost/mile
Standard 35/40 foot	$260,000	$21,666	3.7	.27	$0.05	$0.32
Standard small	$210,000	$17,500	4.6	.22	$0.22	$0.44
Light-duty small	$111,000	$15,857	6.5	.15	$0.33	$0.48

Fuel costs based on $1 per gallon.

CONCLUSION

We continue to believe that a standardized fleet composed mostly of 35- and 40-foot buses will provide the most efficient, comfortable and convenient service to the majority of the passengers.

However, since the small transit vehicle does now appear to have a limited role in our growing service area, we feel it prudent to keep these small vehicles in our fleet mix. Future purchases of this type of vehicle, however, should be a “standard” type of vehicle rather than the “light-duty” version because of passenger comfort, reliability and maintenance costs.