Dixon to Purchase New Readi-Ride City Bus
Jul 11, 2024 02:49PM ● By Angela Underwood
Dixon Readi-Ride Graphic representing the city in a comprehensive report regarding a future fleet of Readi-Ride electric city buses. Photo courtesy of the City of Dixon
DIXON, CA (MPG) - Councilmember Jim Ernest wants all-electric city buses.
At the July 2 council meeting, Public Works director Loren Kotow asked the Dixon City Council to approve nearly $130,000 in partner funds to replace a Readi-Ride bus, prompting Ernest's environmental concerns.
"The City of Dixon routinely applies for federal transit funding to supplement other funding sources for the operation and capital needs of our local transit system, Readi-Ride," Kotow said.
This time, the Solano Transportation Authority (STA), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), contributed $129,906. According to Kotow, replacing the bus that has reached its "useful life" includes holding a public hearing, to which no one objected.
However, Ernest said a California Air Resources Board (CARB) report is the main reason he would rather purchase an electric than a gas vehicle.
"I was just reading the CARB rules, and they are pushing really hard to replace these government vehicles in the next ten years," Ernest said, noting since funding is in place, he approves Kotow's recommendation but will not in the future. "I would suggest this is the last gas vehicle we buy."
Regarding funding, Ernest said all-electric vehicles offer more grant opportunities. They also outweigh gas vehicles' 10-year useful life benchmark, ULB, leaving Dixon with unusable vehicles after a decade.
According to a city staff report, "the decision to use funding to replace one bus was based on the fact that Readi-Ride currently has four buses that have exceeded their useful life benchmark, ULB."
According to a Solano Transportation Authority report, Dixon's Readi-Ride fleet consists of eight vehicles with a future goal of 10. Of all area fleets, Dixon will receive the fewest electric buses compared to Rio Vista Delta Breeze, which has four vehicles with a future goal of eight; SolTrans, which has 56 vehicles with a goal of 70; and Vacaville City Coach, which has 25 vehicles with a goal of 31.
Furthermore, according to the Solano Transportation Authority report, Solano County's "small transit agencies," of which Dixon is one, "must ensure that 25% of new bus deliveries between 2026 and 2028, and 100% beyond 2029," are electric. However, the lack of funding to purchase the battery electric buses, BEB, or supply charging stations is an issue, according to the Public Works Director, who said the "unfunded mandate by the state of California" must be met by 2024.
Solano Transportation Authority reports, "The Dixon Readi-Ride facility concept supports ten charging positions planned for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) that will replace the existing eight cutaway vehicles while also leaving room for two additional vehicles in the future."
According to the Solano Transportation Authority, sequential and concurrent charging stations "can be beneficial for an agency to adopt."
"For Dixon Readi-Ride and Vacaville City Coach, the BEBs are assumed to be charged sequentially, while at Rio Vista Delta Breeze, the BEBs are charged concurrently,” Solano Transportation Authority reports.
Kotow told the Independent Voice that over the next 16 years, city staff will continue to work to identify funding for this transition and work out the logistics of moving towards electric buses.
"We are currently working with PG&E on installing another transformer," Kotow said. "The statewide mandate is to be electric by 2040, so we are still in the early stages of this process."