A Capital Area Transit System committee is recommending that the full CATS board approve this afternoon a short-term lease of 10 refurbished buses to help the system manage a fleet shortage until a long-term replacement program can be implemented. The buses, built in 1999, would cost $4,400 each per month, with each to be leased for six months. The total cost comes to $264,000. The CATS board will take up the issue this afternoon to discuss and vote on the matter.
The CATS Finance & Executive Committee met Monday to discuss the fleet shortage, which is a long-simmering problem within the transit agency. CATS doesn’t have enough buses to adequately serve the system, even though it acquired six refurbished buses in 2014 and purchased several new ones that are due to arrive shortly.
“A large chunk of our fleet is at or near useful life,” says CATS spokeswoman Amie McNaylor. “The older they get the more problems you start to have.”
McNaylor characterizes the lease option as a short-term fix, but one that CEO Bob Mirabito hopes will fill a gap in the system until a long-term plan can be implemented.
“It’s been a question of not having the money and not having adequate cleanup until Bob got here,” McNaylor says. “We’re working on having the fleet replacement plan so we’re not in this situation again.”
The board convenes at 4:30 p.m. in the BREC administration building, 6201 Florida Blvd.
—Stephanie Riegel
