New buses for York Region come with savings

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 23, 2014
Laura Finney

The Region of York could save more than $680,000 on new buses by partnering with 12 other Ontario municipalities.

The joint transit purchase is being co-ordinated through the transit procurement initiative (TPI), a Metrolinx program that helps small and medium Ontario municipalities save money through bulk purchasing.

By combining orders, the initiative gives all municipalities the power of large-scale procurement and cost incentives usually only afforded to large municipalities, said Alex Burke, media relations and issues specialist with Metrolinx.

York Region will buy 36 fully accessible new buses that will meet the latest emission standards and will be equipped with electrical accessories to improve fuel efficiency and help reduce costs.

This is great news for transit riders in York Region, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard said, adding, with this partnership, York Region will save money and provide better service, making transit better for the environment and the entire community.

Transportation Minister and Vaughan MPP Steven Del Duca agreed.

This partnership increases buying power and in turn decreases costs to municipalities. New accessible buses make taking public transit even more attractive, he said.

Some of the new busses will replace older vehicles, but some will be used for service expansion, said Dave Partington, acting manager of capital assets with York Region.

And that could mean hiring more mechanics and more people to clean the buses, more people to drive them and more people to deal with the customers on the street, he said.

The buses will be delivered in 2015 and 2016.

Along with York, the participating municipalities include Barrie, Burlington, Durham Region, Hamilton, Kingston, Milton, North Bay, Oakville, Sarnia, St. Catharines and Windsor.

SIDEBAR

For more information about this program, visit www.metrolinx.com.
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