Saskatoon Transit is adding six new buses to their fleet over the coming days.
The buses are part of Saskatoon Transit’s fleet renewal strategy, which aims to improve rider experience, while decreasing operating costs.
“These buses are fully accessible, contain the latest Intelligent Transportation System technology and are more fuel efficient,” Jim McDonald, Director of Saskatoon Transit said in a written release. “They have more comfortable ergonomically-designed seating, improved lighting, automated announcements, air conditioning and a darker floor which will reduce windshield glare for our operators.”
In addition to the six new buses, an additional four buses will be arriving in July. Saskatoon Transit also plans to place an order for 10 more new buses to be delivered in July of 2017.
Ordering new buses instead of buying refurbished ones is expected to reduce the fleet cost by about $200,000 a year.
“It just makes better financial sense to update our fleet and it helps us deliver high-quality, comfortable service that Saskatoon residents expect and deserve,” McDonald said. “We’ve seen a savings of $60,000 a year in fuel costs because of the new buses purchased over the last five years. We anticipate more savings as we replace older buses with new ones.”
Over the next 10 years, Saskatoon Transit plans to offer air conditioning on every bus, reduce the age of the average bus from 11.9 years, to 7.3 years, which will reduce maintenance costs, and ensure that every bus is accessible to all patrons by 2018.
