LANCASTER – The Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2012 with the addition of 15 new buses to its fleet. The new Gillig buses, which are currently on order, are diesel and electric hybrids.
The hybrid buses will burn cleaner while in use on local transit routes which serve approximately 100 square miles throughout the Antelope Valley. The new buses cost $8.7 million and will be paid for with a combination of federal transit funding and local sales tax. Delivery of the first bus is scheduled for June of 2012.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to replace some of our older buses with these state of the art hybrids in line for production at Gillig Corporation in Hayward, California,” said AVTA Executive Director Julie Austin. “We are also in the process of refurbishing more than a dozen local transit buses to maintain their reliability until they reach the end of their useful life.”
Thirteen of AVTA’s older buses are in varying degrees of refurbishment. Seven have recently been put back in service with new engines and rebuilt transmissions along with new air conditioning units, new upholstery and flooring along with a fresh coat of paint. Refurbishment efforts on the other six are expected to be completed by early April.
AVTA serves a population of more than 400,000 residents in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale as well as the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County. Its total service area covers 1,200 square miles and it is bounded by the Kern County line to the north, the San Bernardino County line to the east, the Angeles National Forest to the south, and Interstate 5 to the West.
(Information via press release from Antelope Valley Transit Authority.)
