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City Utilities of Springfield has plans to build a new bus storage facility. It’s trying to prepare for the continued growth of its transit system. KSMU’s Samuel Crowe spoke with City Utilities and has this report.
The current transit campus facility, at the corner of Division and Booneville, has maintained and stored Springfield buses for over 40 years. But with a growing population in the metro area, City Utilities feels it’s time for an upgrade. Mark Viguet of CU says with the recent surge in bus ridership, a larger facility makes sense.
“If you look at December 2011 to December 2010 there was a 14 percent increase in bus ridership. Basically that 14 percent means there were about 16,000 more rides that customers took on those buses, compared from year to year,” Viguet said.
Viguet says for right now the city isn’t looking to hire more bus drivers. That will be addressed when the city looks to acquire larger buses at some point down the road.
The total cost of the improved facility will be around $9.2 million dollars, with $7.2 million coming from a Federal Transit Administration grant. City Utilities hopes to have the construction of the new facility completed by the spring of 2013. For KSMU News, I’m Samuel Crowe.