LANTA Board Meeting, December, 2012

The LANta Board of Directors met on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at the Authority offices in Allentown.  At this meeting much was discussed and committees requested various contract awards. The Authority approved the purchase of nine heavy-duty, hybrid buses for LANtaBus, the purchase of 15 para-transit vans for LANtaVan, the purchase of seven vans for Carbon County and awarded the IT services contract for all LANta facilities.

1.  The Chair of the Operations Committee started off the meeting by recommending that the Authority award the 2013 heavy-duty, hybrid bus purchase to Gillig Corporation LLC of Hayward CA. The purchase of these vehicles through Gillig Corporation LLC was awarded by the Pennsylvania State Bus Consortium in February 2011. In an effort for consistency and ease of ordering, this consortium of Pennsylvania transit agencies will all use the same vendor. LANta will be purchasing 5-35’ buses and 4-40’ buses and they will be delivered in spring of 2014. At an estimated cost of $600,000 for each bus, LANta has already acquired the funding for these vehicles. The buses were ordered on December 12, 2012, the day after the project was awarded.

2. The next order of business was the approval of the LANtaVan van acquisition for 2013. LANta will purchase 15 para-transit vans to replace current 2004 and 2005 vans that are in use by Easton Coach. These vans have a five-year life and each van puts on roughly 40,000 miles a year. Chevy 4500 series vans will be ordered, the same make and model as last year. They have the capacity to seat 12 passengers and accommodate two wheelchair spaces. The seats are all "flip" style so the van can handle up to six wheelchairs. 
This van purchase will be made utilizing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of General Services (DGS) bid process for para-transit vehicles. The budget for this capital project is just over $1.2 million.

3. Next the Operations Committee recommended the Authority award the contract for a seven van purchase for Carbon County Community Transit (CCCT). The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has awarded Carbon County a "New Freedoms" fund grant in the amount of $339,580 for this purchase. These new vans will replace existing CCCT fleet vehicles.  This vehicle purchase will be completed utilizing the DGS bid purchase of para-transit vehicles. The contract for the vehicles is with Rohrer Bus Company of Duncannon PA at a total cost of just under $348,000.

4. Finally, the Operations Committee recommended that the Authority award the IT Service Contract for LANta to Hodges Technology Inc. of Easton PA. LANta has specialized computer systems in place for real time bus viewing, scheduling and entering and tracking records and data necessary for daily retrieval. Hodges is the current provider and they are very knowledgeable about the systems that are in place throughout LANta.  The contract is for three years with options to renew for an additional two years.