The city of Tucson and Sun Van introduced 42 new Sun Van vehicles, which includes minivans and sedans to improve system efficiency when full-sized Sun Van vehicles are not necessary.
Once all 42 vehicles are received by the end of August, they will replace 2009 diesel-fueled vehicles in Sun Van’s fleet, decreasing the average age of the fleet from 4.10 years to 2.47 years.
Purchased with funding from the Federal Transportation Administration and the city of Tucson, Sun Van received 22 gasoline-fueled cut-away vehicles built by Gaval at a cost of nearly $77,500 per vehicle. Additionally, Sun Van is receiving 10 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans at a cost of nearly $60,000 per vehicle and 10 Ford Taurus sedans have arrived at a cost of $23,500 per vehicle. The use of minivans and sedans in revenue service is being implemented due to the findings in the Sun Van Fleet and Supplemental Service Report. It was determined that the use of smaller revenue vehicles could improve system efficiency during times when larger cut-away vehicles are unnecessary for select trips.
“This investment and move toward using smaller vehicles for some trips demonstrates the City’s and Sun Van’s commitment to providing the most efficient ADA service possible,” said Kate Riley, general manager of Sun Van. “Our goal is to realize cost savings by using these smaller vehicles, as they are less expensive vehicles and use less fuel.”
