PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Transit Board has approved an amendment to the Transit Department’s capital budget for 2017, enabling upgrades in software and technology.
Jefferson Transit is removing $275,000 from the budget that was allocated to paying off the construction costs of its new facility at 63 Four Corners Road. According to Sara Crouch, finance and human resources manager, Jefferson Transit was able to pay for the project during 2016.
The department was approved for the funds to purchase RouteMatch transit system software and a corresponding Traveler Information packet for the RouteMatch software. This purchase was meant to happen in 2016 but ended up pushed into the 2017 budget.
The purchase was approved in 2016 at a cost of $154,000. That cost will be moved into the 2017 budget and there will be an additional cost of $45,000 for add-ons to the software. The remainder of the $275,000 was moved into Jefferson Transit’s surplus fund.
The department was also able to extend a state Department of Transportation grant into February. According to Crouch, the plan is to use the $4,315 from the grant and $1,085 from the transit department for upgrades to laptops and wireless Internet at the department’s new facility.
“What the upgrade does is allow maintenance to take their laptops out to the field to diagnose problems,” Crouch said. “The upgrades will help more than just the maintenance department, but that’s the main reason we want it”
The amended capital budget, which was approved unanimously by the board, is $4,547,328 for 2017.
Also approved at Tuesday’s meeting was the scrapping of at least one surplus vehicle, a 1997 Thomas 33-foot bus, and the auctioning of two others, a 1982 Orion 30-foot bus and a 1996 Thomas 33-foot bus. The three were listed as in poor condition and will be replaced by two new buses that will be purchased with a federal grant.
The two new buses will be bio-diesel, which is the standard for all buses on set routes in Jefferson County.
County Commissioner Kathleen Kler asked about the possibility of using electric buses, but according to Jefferson Transit general manager Tammi Rubert, the infrastructure for electric buses is too expensive.
“We need buses and we need them now so we need to move forward with bio-diesel,” Rubert said.
Both the scrapping of the old buses and purchase of the new ones were approved unanimously by the board, which is made up of the three Jefferson County commissioners, Port Townsend City Councilmember David Faber and Port Townsend Deputy Mayor Catharine Robinson.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
