Grant will replace some aging rural buses in Linn, Johnson counties

CEDAR RAPIDS - More than half the public transit buses logged by the state are considered beyond their useful life - a measurement of miles on the vehicle, as well as age and condition.

That trend also rings true locally. Around 50 percent of the buses operated by Johnson County SEATS and Linn County LIFTS, both rural and paratransit service providers, also are beyond their useful life.

However, the Iowa Department of Transportation this month announced $7 million in federal funds - through the Federal Transit Administration's buses and bus facilities infrastructure investment program - for 91 new rural public transit vehicles that will replace more than 10 percent of the state's aging buses.

'We have so many buses that, quite frankly you wouldn't want to put your relatives on, and I don't mean that from a safety aspect, I mean from a comfort aspect. They're just old,” said Tom Hardecopf, director of Linn County LIFTS. 'A lot of our fleet and the fleet across the state is beyond its useful life.”

Of the 1,729 transit vehicles logged by Iowa DOT, 884, or 51 percent, are considered beyond their useful life. The recently approved funding - provided through the Federal Transit Administration - will replace 91 rural buses across 18 different public transit systems.

East Central Iowa Council of Governments will receive about $550,000 for five replacement buses: two for Johnson County SEATS, one for Linn County LIFTS, one for Jones County Jets and one for Iowa County.

In total, Linn County LIFTS operates about 20 buses, and Johnson County SEATS has about 25 buses.

Buses become eligible for replacement funds after they log a certain number of miles or reach a certain age, said Brent Paulsen, research and technology manager with the Iowa Department of Transportation's office of public transit.

A light-duty bus, similar to what SEATS and LIFTS operate, becomes eligible after at least five years or 150,000 miles, Paulsen said.

'In Iowa, we have a fair amount of those,” Paulsen said. 'This grant will greatly help us reduce that.”

Brock Grenis, transit administrator with East Central Iowa Council of Governments, said it's important to note that aging buses don't pose safety risks. Buses across the state can easily surpass 200,000 or 300,000 miles.

'Even though they reach that replacement life threshold, realistically we have to operate them for several more years,” Grenis said. 'We really have to take care of them and expect quite a long life out of them.”

However, the cost of operating an aging bus grows exponentially each year, said Tom Brase, Johnson County SEATS transportation and fleet director.

One of the SEATS buses slated for replacement is now 12 years old and has nearly 300,000 miles. In the bus' first year, maintenance cost $61. In the second year, it was $1,500.

Annual maintenance costs have reached nearly $86,000, Brase said.

The typical cost of a light-duty bus today is around $70,000 to $80,000.

'We've spent more on it than we bought it for. That's what happens ... the older it gets, the more major repairs it has to have,” Brase said, adding that, like many rural transit programs, the costs come out of county funds. 'The local taxpayers are paying for those repairs.”

This year's federal funding is for rural transit providers, which often provide services based on requests, rather than operate a fixed route like city services.

In 2017, Iowa received $3.6 million for 18 city and rural buses and $4.27 million in 2016 for 58 rural buses. Funding was made available through the Federal Transit Administration's buses and bus facilities infrastructure investment program.

l Comments: (319) 398-8309; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com