With more than 74 percent of its fleet past its useful life, rabbittransit welcomes the addition of 60 new vehicles in the coming weeks ahead. Currently, 48 black-and-white paratransit, or shared ride, vehicles are slated to be deployed into service on April 3, 2017.
The vehicles will be dispersed into Adams, Columbia, Franklin, Northumberland and York counties as part of the rabbittransit 10-county service area. Previous county-branded vehicles eligible for replacement are being phased over to the black-and-white versions. The new fleet additions are comprised of 14 CDL buses and 46 non-CDL vehicles, of which includes 10 minivans and two Ford Transits.
“I’m particularly excited about the Ford Transit vehicles we’re adding to the fleet,” said rabbittransit Superintendent of Maintenance Anthony Mundy. “These are a mid-sized vehicle that should maneuver well in the northern region with tighter roadways.”
The transit authority continues to shift toward fewer CDL buses as rabbittransit Executive Director Richard Farr explained. “We’ve discovered that it has been easier to recruit for drivers who do not have CDLs given major competition from the private sector for CDL drivers.”
The newest vehicles will replace those past their useful life and eligible for replacement by Federal Transit Administration standards. This will bring the fleet total to 270 vehicles across the 10-county region including 213 Paratransit vehicles, 44 fixed-route buses and 13 vehicles for the rabbitEXPRESS commuter service.
Funding for this is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation through ACT 89.
Ultimately, rabbittransit’s vehicle replacement plan includes the transition to a predominantly compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet. It moved its central operations and maintenance to a facility fully CNG compliant this past summer in August 2016.
