Anchorage bus purchase would replace six of 26 over-age People Mover buses

The Anchorage Assembly votes Sept. 15 on a $5.36 million purchase that would replace six of the 26 People Mover buses already past the federal government's minimum useful-life standard.

The Public Transportation Department is asking the Assembly to buy six New Flyer XD40 40-foot low-floor clean-diesel buses accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, for an amount not to exceed $5,355,826.28. The department operates 63 New Flyer 40-foot low-floor diesel buses. Twenty-six have already passed the useful life the Federal Transit Administration defines for vehicles that size.

Those buses "require an increased level of maintenance to remain in reliable operation," Public Transportation Director Bart Rudolph's memorandum said.

FTA guidance sets a minimum useful life of 12 years or 500,000 miles for buses that size. That is a floor, not a retirement age. The department's own performance reports use a longer local benchmark of 14 years.

The contract's competitively established base price is $665,307 a bus. The memorandum says buses built to each buyer's specifications have no directly comparable commercial price. Anchorage's configured price of $831,540.87 per bus, or $4,989,245.22 total, reflects a $1,000-per-bus volume discount worth $6,000, plus Anchorage-specific equipment, modifications and delivery. Training adds $74,351.25, and a diagnostics and service tools package adds $292,229.81. Funding comes from transit capital improvement bonds and FTA grants appropriated in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 budget years. Section 3019 of the FAST Act allows the purchase off Washington state's competitively bid contract.

The department has run New Flyer buses since 1995, citing parts, tools and staff training built around that platform. A November 2023 Assembly memorandum put the over-age count at 19 New Flyer buses.

Also before the Assembly Sept. 15: a $1,151,774 cooperative purchase of two Etnyre asphalt distributor trucks and one chip spreader for street maintenance.

The memorandum does not say when the remaining over-age buses would be replaced.