The Woodlands accepts $24.3M proposal for new commuter bus fleet using federal funds

Additionally, the entire cost for a new fleet is covered through federal funding from the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration by means of the regional Carry Over Spend Down program via the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Haut said.

The details

The new fleet will come wrapped in The Woodlands transit logo, and that cost is included in the total, Haut said.

The new fleet will also include:

• A heating, ventilation and air conditioning system with 50% more cooling capacity
• Footrests
• Outlets
• Flushing toilets
• Visual displays and electronic stop announcements

• Downtown Route
• Medical Center Route, which includes the Museum District
• Greenway Plaza Route
• Energy Corridor District Route

After The Woodlands gets the new fleet of buses, the plan is to continue using approximately 12-14 of the existing new buses as a reserve fleet, Haut said. This will help lower the annual cost of the express service by allowing the township to not use any contractor-owned buses, Haut said.

The board has until next summer to decide on what it wants to do with the existing fleet, but it will cost approximately $5,000 to update the bus wraps to make them similar to the new fleet, Haut added.