The $787 billion federal stimulus package includes $1.5 billion for transportation infrastructure projects. If everything goes according to plan, the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit Commission will be receiving $71 million of that. The money would be spent on a series of projects intended to reduce energy consumption and improve bureaucratic efficiency. It would also generate more than 300 jobs in the coming year.
By far the biggest project is rebuilding the district’s operation center, which is currently too small. Right now, operations are spread out among several buildings, including leased office space. In contrast, the new structure would house all of districts offices in a single building, attached to an expanded bus storage area. Two important features of the new building would be a roofed-in parking area for buses, which, proponents say, would reduce the need to repaint the vehicles from every five years to every eight years. The entire roof area would be fitted with solar panels, which would reduce electrical consumption by as much as 65 percent. An adjacent water collection and storage system would be used to collect rainwater for use in washing the buses.
The district also plans to replace as many as 30 of its 112 buses with vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. Officials believe that this would help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 93 percent.
The request for federal stimulus funding is scheduled to be submitted by Sept. 15. A response is expected some time in February. Read more at the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
