In the recent Port Authority cutbacks, 30 bus routes were eliminated, 104 others incurred reduced service and more than 200 employees will have been laid off by Sunday.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette The CL Flyer doesn't stop here anymore. Click photo for larger image.

Fewer routes and fewer drivers ... so what happens to all the extra buses?

They're sold. Once a bus has reached its potential, it is, as they say in upper management, "let go." According to Federal Transit Administration regulations, this must happen when a bus reaches 12 years of age, or 500,000 miles.

To dispose of all the washed-up buses, Port Authority arranges an auction every once in a while -- the latest bid opening was in September 2006, when 63 buses were put out to pasture.

Companies want the buses for a variety of reasons. Some buses are refurbished and have an easy second life as church shuttles and tour buses. Others are even sent to Third World countries for public transit.

Most, however, are scrapped for parts. One of the highest bidders in the 2006 auction was Metal Management NIMCO Shredding in Newark, N.J, which specializes in bus dismantling.

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Metal Management recycles the buses in an environmentally conscientious way, while simultaneously trying to extract as much value as possible from them, said company spokesman Jim Robinson.

Unusable parts are shredded and separated into scrap metal and waste -- the waste goes to a landfill, while the scrap metal is sold to domestic and international markets.

Usable used parts earn the bus dismantling company some extra money. These parts are advertised on the Internet, whether they be doors, windows, seats or engines. Web sites such as busbus.com and busforsaleguide.com sell parts as well as whole buses.

Old, worn-out buses range dramatically in value. Some bus firms have actually paid for Metal Management to take their buses away, said Mr. Robinson, especially those that have been damaged by fires. Others are worth thousands of dollars.

On eBay, the highest bid for a 1987 Gillig Phantom -- a model frequently used by Port Authority -- was $1,825 on Thursday. Port Authority buses are slightly newer, so assuming that they are 12 years old at time of purchase, and assuming that vehicles depreciate 30 percent in the first year and 10 percent each succeeding year, a typical used Port Authority bus would sell for $4,239.58.

Even 63 buses at this price doesn't begin to make a dent in Port Authority's $44.6 million budget deficit.