May 3—The La Crosse city council will consider buying five new diesel buses for $3.1 million at its next meeting. Transportation director Adam Lorentz said MTU diesel buses are growing old and need replacement.
In one of the Finance & Personnel Committee's shortest meetings, council members unanimously voted Thursday evening to purchase the new buses. The full city council will consider the resolution Thursday, May 9.
Funds for the buses come from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The MTU was awarded $6.3 million in CARES Act funds in 2021. Each bus would cost $620,000. After the purchase, MTU will have about $2 million in CARES funds left.
Lorentz said MTU keeps several types of buses in stock to avoid system-wide issues shutting services down entirely. If all of La Crosse's electric buses faced weather-based battery issues, MTU needs diesel and hybrid buses to cover transit service.
All of the MTU's current diesel buses are past the 12-year and 500,000-mile lifetime expectancy. La Crosse would purchase five new "clean diesel" buses that meet federal emissions requirements.
"(The term) clean diesel is given to a diesel bus that meets requirements that are required by the Federal Transit Authority through Altoona testing," Lorentz said. "Emissions is one of those items getting tested for that."
Buses that do not pass emissions tests are not eligible for federal funding. Altoona testing measures the emissions in grams per megajoule, a measurement of energy.
Clean diesel buses must emit less than 5.77 grams of carbon monoxide per megajoule and less than 0.019 grams of particles per megajoule.
MTU recently requested $1 million in capital equipment funds from the city for even more bus replacements. The funds would purchase one more clean diesel bus and two additional hybrid buses. The city will consider these items with its capital improvement budget in August.
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