After three years, environmentally-friendly public transportation is back on the Long Beach City Council’s agenda.
Long Beach Transit negotiated a new deal with Build Your Dreams Motors, Inc. to purchase 10 battery-powered buses, an on-route charging station, associated maintenance tools and training, according to the agenda item.
The item also specifies that LBT originally tried to purchase electric buses in 2012, but that the contract fell through because the selected vendor lacked the federal certification necessary for LBT to pay for the buses.
“I think [battery-powered buses are] a good idea, especially down here in SoCal where there’s a ton of pollution and smog,” Miki Benson, a bus commuter and sophomore theater major at California State University, Long Beach, said. “It would be awesome for public transit to help reduce that.”
Factoring in proposition 1B funding for reducing diesel emissions and Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction grant money from the Federal Transit Administration, the total available budget for the new buses is $14 million.
Kenneth McDonald, the president and CEO of LBT, sent a request to the council on Tuesday asking for authorization to spend up to $11 million on purchasing the new buses and equipment. The council will make its decision on Monday.
“[Battery-powered buses] probably won’t affect the number of people that take the bus, but it’s still something [the city] should be focusing on because it’s good for the environment,” senior psychology major Jacqueline Lara said.
According to McDonald’s letter, LBT selected BYD as the best available vendor based on federal certifications, technical specifications, pricing and product demonstrations by three separate LBT teams tasked with evaluating the various vendor proposals.
According to the letter, LBT staff advised the council against four alternative agreements from BYD and New Flyer. LBT also recommended against forgoing battery-powered buses entirely because doing so would forfeit the 1B and TIGGER III grant money.
The deal with BYD would also provide LBT with the opportunity to purchase an additional 50 buses at a later time.
