Riders in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area may not immediately notice, but the Port Authority of Allegheny County will begin putting new clean diesel buses into service this week. The 59 new buses will appear nearly identical to others in the port authority’s fleet, but the new ones will be equipped with USB ports to allow customers to charge their mobile devices.
The 40-foot Gillig buses were purchased with $22 million in federal, $5.5 million in state and $180,000 in county funds. The vehicles are part of the port authority’s replacement program “to more reliable and environmentally-friendly public transit across the region.” There will be a one-for-one replacement of existing buses that have been on the road and in service for at least 12 years and are due to be retired. All 59 of the new buses are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
The buses began leaving Gillig’s factory outside San Francisco in mid-October and are being driven 2,600 miles over three days and through eight states before arriving in Pittsburgh.
Prior to deployment throughout the system, the buses will go through a post-delivery inspection and undergo routine state inspections.
The port authority’s buses have had a big week with the arrival of the new vehicles, the rescue of bus #6015 from a sinkhole and late this year, the port authority will take receipt of its first two battery-electric bu
