Wichita City Council members approved the purchase of new city buses at Tuesday’s meeting. They will help update the transit system’s aging fleet.
A total of ten new buses will be coming from a California-based manufacturer. They will all be diesel powered.
“The total cost for the acquisition is $4.2 million and a little over 80 percent of that will come from the Federal Transit Administration," Wichita City Manager Robert Layton says. "The rest will be local.”
Each bus will cost roughly $400,000 and the contract provides the option to purchase 50 more buses at the same price in the future.
The transit system has relied heavily on federal dollars this year as the city sorts out its future finances. The added service to New Market Square in west Wichita and the purchase of 10 buses back in April were funded mostly through federal grants.
Wichita Transit currently runs a total of 35 buses during peak hours.