Earlier this year you might recall that
local Safe Routes to Schools efforts had secured a grant for an enhanced crosswalk near Liberty School. Last week, in a letter to the MPO and in the packet for next week's meeting on Tuesday the 27th, the State announced that the local application for a three year non-infrastructure grant had been approved.
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| Announcement letter |
This funding is the biggest part of crossing off the first step in
the new plan.
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Chief Goal: Hire a full-time coordinator,
then install programming at four schools |
Back in February there seemed to be
some uncertainty about where any hire might live, who actually was going to be the employer,
but it sure looks like Cherriots will be that home. (
Update: Nope, the COG/MPO will be the employer.) There are details to work out, and the formal grant application will disclose more of them. This will be exciting to follow. Safe Routes has not yet made their own announcement about this, and they may share additional details when they do. (We'll update here as appropriate.)
Other Items
The SKATS agenda is not a busy one and there are just a few things to note in passing.
The project scoring for 2021-2026 continues.
See previous notes here.
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| Eugene adding electric buses (Register-Guard today) |
One question might be why is Cherriots applying for funding to support new natural gas vehicles? Should all new vehicle purchases be electric now? (This is a genuine question, not a rhetorical one.)
On scheduling:
- Construction on the middle Commercial Street buffered bike lanes (Oxford St to Winding Way) and and enhanced crosswalks is slipping from fiscal year 2020 to 2021.
- Construction on the Mill Street rail crosswalk at the end of the Promenade to the Train Depot also is slipping from fiscal year 2020 to 2021.
Finally, not on the agenda at all, SKATS just updated their crash maps with 2017 statistics.
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Crash sites with people in cars, on bike, and on foot
via SKATS
(the right hand margin gets whacked if you're not full width) |
See
the maps library for "quick facts" and the "crash map." The bike map, project maps, and other useful stuff is also available there.
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Look for the historic sign
next to the entry |
The
agenda and meeting packet can be downloaded here.
is not yet published to the MPO website, and when it is, this post will be updated with a link.
SKATS Policy Committee Committee meets Tuesday the 27th, at noon. SKATS is at
100 High St. SE, Suite 200, above Table Five 08 and Epilogue Kitchen.
5 comments:
Battery electric buses still cost a lot more money for each vehicle, in addition to the infrastructure (i.e. charging) that is needed. It isn't as easy as just switching one out for another yet. Also, some places, notably Albuquerque, have had some serious issues with some electric buses. It is still a bit early for this product.
Of course, we've had electric buses in some places for many years: electric trolleybuses! But these do require building and maintaining a lot more overhead infrastructure.
SAMTD (dba Cherriots) has revised their TIP Application to specify "alternative fueled vehicles" and not CNG-fueled vehicles. This would allow them the opportunity to use the funds, if awarded, for CNG, electric or even hydrogen fueled/powered vehicles. The applications are being updated to reflect this revision.
And, as the previous poster stated, battery electric buses cost more ($200k more according to govtech.com) and putting in place the infrastructure required to charge more than a few buses will involve a discussion with PGE about the amount of electricity available at the maintenance/storage facility.
The August PC agenda is available on the MWVCOG website, but apparently was not linked from the calendar entry (yet). Available on: SKATS - Committees
Ray
SKATS/MWVCOG
Thanks for the TIP app update and additional info on costs! "Alternative fueled vehicles" sounds like a good way to respond to the "best available" power source at the time of purchase, which could vary over a grant period if the buses aren't all purchased at once.
The RG piece says LTD has only two electric buses at the moment, and "Depending how the electric buses do during the test period, they may become a regular part of the LTD fleet this fall. For now, the district is cycling them through routes. LTD is seeking federal funding and may have as many as 21 electric buses in service in the next three to five years."
Both Trimet and LTD are still testing them, then.
One correction to the SRTS story. The MWVCOG will be the employer of the SRTS Coordinator.
Mike Jaffe
MWVCOG Transportation Director
More detail from the ODOT release:
"Thisproject is to hire a SRTS coordinator to work with schools in the Salem-Keizer School District area. The SRTS coordinator will be located at the school district offices and receive support from school administrative staff as well as the members of Salem Area Safe Route to School Steering Committee. Action Plans will be developed and implemented, starting with five elementary schools in the district and three to four additional schools as resources allow. District-wide walking and rolling events will be also developed and implemented, as well as specialized safety educational and encouragement activities."
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