CTA Buys 58 Hybrid Buses with Stimulus Money

By Kalyn Belsha in News on Apr 11, 2009 10:00PM

The Chicago Transit Authority is about to embark on its second project funded by stimulus cash: it will purchase 58 hybrid buses for $49 million to be delivered this fall, according to a CTA statement.

A contract to purchase the "articulated" vehicles - better known as “accordion” or “bendy” buses -- was signed with New Flyer Industries, a large maker of transit vehicles for the U.S. and Canada. The CTA also placed orders with New Flyer for 150 hybrid buses last year and 265 hybrids in 2006.

According to CTA's statement, its latest purchase could save the agency more than $2.3 million annually in maintenance costs and more than $300,000 in fuel costs.

Track replacement along the Blue Line Dearborn subway, the other stimulus-funded project, is expected to begin later this month and will cost $87 million. This leaves about $105 million in stimulus dollars -- about 44 percent of the total $241 million -- for other projects yet to be announced. [Crain's]