Apparently, repairs to the CNG fueling station will be measured in months, not weeks:
Since February 28th, a fire in our Compressed Natural Gas fueling station has limited the number of buses we can put into service each day. We are now learning that repairs will take several months and that we will be unable to return to regular service levels. As a result, we are operating Emergency Reduced Service through June 11th.
The brochure lays out the route-by-route impacts.
Large, temporary transit disruptions are terrible for many people’s lives, but in this case the cuts are coming anyway so it’s tempting to say people might as well adapt now. On the other hand, current reduced service operates under unique constraints and is likely quite different from the eventual shape of service.
Why doesn’t PT borrow some diesel buses even hybrid buses from ST, like Gillig?
Neither ST nor Metro has the coaches to spare.
PT is facing cuts, face it! Ramping up service with leased worn out coaches which they don’t have the maintenance crew to support is just going to make those cuts worse. Best to save money now and work toward a sustainable level of service.
I’ve seen (either here or somewhere else) suggestions that PT could use the retired KM Metro and ST Gilligs. I’m assuming the following would need to be done:
(1) Sign programming
(2) Communication systems installed
(3) ORCA readers installed
(4) Fareboxes installed
For (2) – (4), I’m assuming that those items have been removed from the retired coaches. For (1) I’m assuming the sign equipment has not been removed.
Would anything else besides the above need to be done and how long would it take to get these buses ready for use by Pierce Transit?
I’m not sure if the retired ST buses are truly retired yet. Hasn’t Metro reaquistioned them for some routes on the east side until the 1900 van issues are all settled out? Also, has Metro actually retired some Gilligs yet? I know they are getting the new Orions in shortly but that may be too late for PT.
Given the length of this downtime, they should be looking for spare diesel buses nationwide. Given that there have been some transit agencies that have flat out closed, something should be available. Of course there are the logistics of signage, communications, and fare collection, but some flexibility and creativity would work here. Spare ORCA fare enforcement devices, and a simple lock box should take care of it. As for communication, go for a cell phone. Not nice and integrated, but it’d work.