12-07-2020, 04:53 PM
(12-07-2020, 02:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(12-07-2020, 01:54 PM)neonjoe Wrote: They may be on track to do this. The region had an Tender out for 30' transit coaches. It looks like it was awarded.
https://regionofwaterloo.bidsandtenders....f58c3a6250
I completely agree that frequency is key, but I don't think that smaller buses help that much, it would be nice to have a specific number on operating costs, but given that driver and maintenance will be about the same, and fuel will be a large fraction of a full size bus, I cannot imagine the savings is much, and the operation cost of having to manage a fleet with more than one type of bus isn't free either, it could literally come out negative.
GRT currently already runs a mixed fleet of New Flyer and Nova buses. And the BusPlus fleet has Chevrolet, Ford and GMC chassis with five (!) different coach bodies and three different engines. So, I don't think adding four Grande West buses to the fleet will have that big an impact.
The fuel economy is likely about 20% better -- and the buses will also be less expensive than full-sized ones. I do assume that they are capable of doing a financial analysis on this.