New minibuses target remote areas

If the trial run goes smoothly, the Centre Area Transportation Authority's new, smaller buses will boost service in big ways.

L. Eric Bernier, CATA director of service development, said two new 18-passenger diesel Ford minibuses added to the CATA fleet this week will enable CATA to better accommodate patrons in outlying areas. The minibuses will also free up the use of its 42 larger-sized transit coaches for areas that draw large numbers of passengers.

"The real savings is in the flexibility the minibuses give us," Bernier said. "We can do things with the small buses that we could not have done with the large buses."

Some students, such as Angela Chang (junior-kinesiology), have had to wait longer to board buses because of overcrowding that plagues some routes. She said the addition of buses may help alleviate the situation.

"Smaller buses should be used where there aren't a lot of people and bigger ones where it's crowded," Chang said.

CATA bought the 26-foot minibuses, which are wheelchair-accessible, with a combination of federal and state transit grants and local taxes.

The addition of minibuses was considered by CATA officials when they began redrafting routes last year, Bernier said. In August, CATA introduced Centre Flex, a system of routes that fulfills the needs of residents living where traditional Centre Line service was not practical.

"We never got small buses (until now) because CATA was growing," Bernier said. "We needed interchangeable buses for places where the amount of riders was both high and low. Minibuses weren't able to fit the bill in all the places we needed to cover."

Although they cost $76,279 per unit -- compared to about $275,000 for a 35- to 40-foot coach -- the minibuses have a shorter life span because of their less-rugged design, said Bernier, who described them as bus bodies atop pickup frames. However, the minibuses do have benefits -- they have slightly better fuel mileage than the coaches.

CATA officials also will replace 10 coach buses with ones that are operated by compressed natural gas, Bernier said. Should the performance of the minibuses prove favorable among both the drivers and passengers, CATA officials may purchase more minibuses in the summer, he added.

"Our ridership is still growing," he said. "We can continue to expand our fleet and look to improve the level of service offered to outlining areas."