Port Authority last week started deploying the first of $27.9 million worth of new buses.
By the end of the year, the agency expects to receive 59 of the 40-foot buses manufactured by Gillig, a bus company near San Francisco.The new buses will be used to replace buses that are at least 12 years old.
From the outside, the buses will look almost the same as the ones they are replacing. But inside, they will have one new feature below their cloth seats: USB ports to allow riders to charge their mobile devices.
In addition, the new buses will burn clean diesel, a fuel that has less sulfur than regular diesel.
Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said the buses are driven from the Gillig plant to the authority’s maintenance garage in Manchester. There, they are inspected to make sure they meet contract specifications and receive their first state inspection.
Then, they are shipped to one of the authority’s four divisions in Ross, Collier, West Mifflin or East Liberty. Division crews install a fare box and the scrolling signs that tell riders which route the bus is following.
The authority tested plastic seats on two Gillig buses it received with a previous order in January, but it hasn’t decided whether to move forward with plastic or fabric. The buses being delivered now were ordered before that test began.
The authority also is expected to receive its first two electric buses before the end of the year. It wants to test the vehicles before it buys 15 articulated electric buses to use on the Bus Rapid Transit system between Downtown and Oakland, which could open in 2022.
Overall, the authority has 720 buses to serve 98 routes throughout the system. It can’t add buses to the system because it has no more room in its garages.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazete.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: November 4, 2019, 10:45 a.m.
