Damakant Jayshi
After failing to secure a federal grant for Metro Ride bus replacements for 2024, Wausau’s transit director said the city should shift away from diesel and gas powered vehicles to meet future grant criteria.
“We need to start moving in the direction of hybrid and electric buses and the biggest obstacle to that right now is our facility,” the Transit Director Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones told members of the Wausau Transit Commission at their meeting on Wednesday.
The Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program “makes federal resources available to states and direct recipients to replace, rehabilitate and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities, including technological changes or innovations to modify low or no emission vehicles or facilities.”
The grant is awarded by the Federal Transit Administration and is considered very competitive.
In June, the FTA announced 130 awards totaling nearly $1.7 billion from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for transit projects in 46 states and territories.
Out of 1,300 buses funded nationally, the FTA funded only two heavy-duty diesel buses, the type of the vehicle that Metro Ride operates.
“The federal government, at this point, is saying if you’d like federal funding to replace a bus, you have to replace diesel with a hybrid or battery-electric bus,” Rosenbloom-Jones said, adding that competing for grants becomes difficult because diesel buses are low priority. But a cleaner fleet costs more than diesel, he added.
The director said the existing fleet facility in the city’s downtown area needs modernization. The hub was built in 1979 and is in a flood zone and has additional challenges. For example, the electrical grids in the neighborhood might not support the power needed for charging and the space lacks platforms or catwalks to replace batteries on bus rooftops.
Wausau likely to see state funding for fleet facility modernization study
The City Council on Tuesday approved a 20 percent local match toward a state program that would provide 80 percent of funding for a feasibility study to modernize the facility, giving Metro Ride a boost.
“What it would allow us to do is spend $100,000 to do a feasibility study that would determine whether or not we can overhaul our facility or whether or not we need to essentially look for a new site,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. He said Metro Ride will need outside engineering experts to study the facility, the flood plains and the electrical grids.
Based on his conversations with officials at WisDOT, the transit director said the city has “a very good shot” at getting that money for the study. He said Metro Ride is trying to avoid a situation in which they are stuck with older, diesel buses that are expensive to maintain in addition to not securing federal funding for new vehicles.
“So it is important now to get the ball rolling and try to get this process moving to look at a fleet away from diesel fuel.”
Transit Commission approves purchase of snowplow truck, no bids received for 7-passenger van
The Transit Commission also approved purchasing a new heavy-duty service truck equipped with a snowplow and a salter for $150,000 from Kunes Country Ford in Antioch in Illinois.
Transit Director Rosenbloom-Jones said $80,000 will be funded through the federal government, with a $20,000 local match that the City Council approved. This local match and the remainder, $50,000, would come from the transit reserve. The snowplow-equipped truck would be available around September, the director added.
Metro Ride did not receive any response when seeking bids for a seven-passenger van the city seeks to purchase
Transit Commission Chair Becky McElhaney said the city will hold off until bids surface.
The Wausau’s public transport entity is also getting five used buses to replace four aging fleet and one that was severely damaged in a crash in August last year. The commission approved receiving three buses as donation from Duluth Transit Authority and purchasing two buses from the City of Waukesha.
