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ECAT Goes Green With New Buses Countywide, New Smaller North Escambia Bus
September 23, 2010
Escambia County Area Transit is going green with 10 new environmentally green buses unveiled Wednesday and new, smaller buses recently put into service in North Escambia.
The 10 new Gillig buses introduced Wednesday are designed to promote a cleaner environment, according to Veolia Transporation, Inc, which manages the ECAT program, and they were a needed upgrade to the ECAT fleet to better serve customers and protect the environment.
The new buses, which were purchased with federal stimulus dollars, will replace 1992 and 1996 models in the current ECAT fleet.
ECAT recently used grant money to replace older, larger buses on their “Route 60″that runs between Pensacola, Cantonment, Molino and Century with smaller, more fuel efficient buses (pictured).
“They are very nice and right-size for now. Maybe if ridership grows they will need to upgrade to bigger buses again one day, but in the interim these are appropriately sized,” Rodney P. Wallace, finance director for Veolia Transporation, said of the new North Escambia buses. He described the smaller buses as “very comfortable and efficient”.
The 10 new buses rolled out Wednesday include features such as:
- Low floor, one-step entry for all passengers.
- Automated wheelchair ramp with manual overrides will replace the failure prone lifts to eliminate lift-related road calls
- Environmentally-friendly LED interior lighting will come with a lifetime guarantee. This replaces standard fluorescent interior bulbs that have to be treated as hazardous waste upon disposal.
- Engine compartment fire detection and suppression system.
- Engines will meet the EPA 2010 emissions standards for diesel buses — a level that at one time could only be met with natural gas-powered buses.
Pictured top: One of 10 new green ECAT buses rolled out Wednesday. Pictured inset: One of the small, more fuel efficient business used on ECAT’s North Escambia routes. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
4 Responses to “ECAT Goes Green With New Buses Countywide, New Smaller North Escambia Bus”
As long as we the people pay for it ,what do they care if it looses money .+ there is a lot more things that the County thats needs to be done than buy more busses that you only see six to ten people on any way .the stimulas money as they say ,could go to do more for the people.(Oh I am sorry you dont care about the people)…..now give me some more money, or I will tax you more,and get it..
You said it, You Who. If people on the north side don’t want to ride the bus they should do away with the Century service route,eh?
Like you said,make money or get out of business.
I just hope ECAT makes enough to pay for itself and we don’t have another gas tax hike to pay for it
Either make money or get out of business
Now here’s something to get excited about.
Maybe I’ll ride the round trip just for the fun of it.
Money well spent this was.