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Saturday, July 20, 2002

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The Port Authority board's administrative and finance committee yesterday recommended awarding $71 million in contracts to purchase 165 new 40-foot-long buses and 25 new 65-foot-long articulated buses, the type that bends in the middle.

When combined with 60 new 35-foot-long buses already ordered, a total of 250 new buses are to be delivered in 2003, replacing about 25 percent of the existing fleet. This will be second biggest infusion of new buses in the Port Authority's nearly 40-year history, eclipsed only in the early 1980s, when 400 buses were bought through a state-sponsored "pool purchase" that included 600 buses for other transit agencies.

The new buses will replace models that will be 20 years old, eight years beyond "useful life" standards set by the Federal Transit Administration, which provides most of the funds for new bus purchases.

Port Authority Operations Manager Laurie Andrews said everyone will be happy to get rid of the old buses plagued by breakdowns, overall wear and high maintenance costs.

"We're looking forward to it," she said. "We know riders feel the same way."

The 40-foot-long buses from Gillig Corp. will be the low-floor variety, like 160 put into service in 1999-2000, but with modifications suggested by staff and riders. They will cost $332,575 each.

The articulated buses will be bought from Neoplan USA from which the Port Authority bought 25 of the same type of buses in 1998. They will cost $476,411 each.

"It will give us an entire fleet of essentially all new articulated buses and the youngest overall fleet of nearly 1,000 buses that we've had in a long time," Andrews said.

The money to buy the buses comes from separate, earmarked sources of capital funding from mostly the state and federal governments -- money the Port Authority can't use for operating expenses to lower fares or avert reductions in service. Allegheny County pays 3 1/3 percent, a local share paid out of annual county bond issues.

Andrews said the authority is fortunate that Gillig and Neoplan -- two of the few American companies still manufacturing transit buses -- say they can start delivering the latest order of buses about a year from now.

"It's not like you can go to a new car dealer, pick out a model you like and drive it home the next day," she said.

In another matter, the board's engineering and construction committee recommended awarding a $15 million contract to the consortium of DMJM+Harris Inc. to provide general engineering services for the $400 million extension of the light-rail system to the North Shore and new convention center.

The authority plans to hire other consultants for architectural and technical services and have them work with DMJM+Harris to coordinate final design, expected to take at least 14 months.

The same consortium handled the draft environmental impact study and the preliminary design for the authority. The federal government approved the plans and granted the agency permission to advance to the final design, right-of-way and construction stages as it obtains funding.

The Port Authority has said if pieces fall into place as planned, riders could be using the extension by spring 2007, including twin tunnels under the Allegheny River to extend the T from Gateway Center Station to the North Shore with stations near PNC Park and Heinz Field.