Friday, January 30, 2009

Mountain Rides has a wish list too

Organization seeks federal dollars to enhance services

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Mountain Rides Transportation Authority has submitted a wish list for federal funding amounting to $7.46 million. The request for both immediate and down-the-road funding was sent to the Federal Transit Administration through the Idaho Transportation Department.

"Our two big needs are that we have aging buses—some of them are 20 years old—and the need for a facility to better support our services in the southern end of the valley," said Jason Miller, Mountain Rides executive director.

The funding request was broken down into three categories: Ready-to-go projects, mid term and long term.

For ready-to-go projects, Mountain Rides requested $760,000 for capital equipment, mainly for the replacement of old buses and for additional buses to expand the fleet.

Mid-term requests were for a total of $2.7 million, which included $1.8 million for additional buses, $250,000 for passenger shelters and $650,000 for new services. The new services would include providing around-town service in the Hailey area and bus services connecting to other counties.

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The long-term request was for $4 million to build a new facility in Bellevue for office, storage, maintenance and passenger service.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com