FARGO
Federal stimulus dollars are rolling into the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area in the form of new Metro Area Transit buses.
The six buses cost $380,000 each, with the money coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Fargo owns five of the buses, and Moorhead owns one.
The buses will be used on MAT's fixed routes.
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Each bus can carry 59 passengers, and all of the buses will carry special markings to show they were purchased with stimulus dollars.
New Flyer Industries of America, in St. Cloud, Minn., manufactured the buses.
"The new buses will allow MAT to continue to provide reliable transit service for the next decade," said Jim Gilmour, planning director for the city of Fargo.
"Moorhead's new bus will provide bus service for 12 to 15 years and with 100 percent ARRA funding, frees up local dollars for other needed projects," said Lori Van Beek, transit manager for the city of Moorhead.
With the new buses, the MAT fleet now totals 37 fixed-route buses and 14 paratransit vehicles.
With the new buses hitting the streets soon, some older buses may be retired in the near future, Gilmour said.
He said those will likely include 1997 models that have 500,000 miles on them.
In addition to the money for new buses, MAT received stimulus dollars to buy more bus passenger-waiting shelters, a new electronic fare box system, maintenance equipment and passenger information display kiosks.
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A record 1.9 million riders used MAT's fixed-route system in 2009.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and The Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
