SASKATOON – City council voted Monday to approve the purchase of 10 brand new Saskatoon Transit buses. The upgrade will cost $4.95 million, made available from gas tax funds.
The goal is to achieve an average fleet age of seven years by 2020. The current average is around 12 years.
Councillors voted in favour of the recommendation but some were upset city administration hadn’t made them aware the money existed and therefore other spending priorities were ignored.
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“Is there any more money? Cause I could sure use some … no, OK,” said Eric Olauson, Ward 8 city councillor.
“We were provided with this report and we were told we found $5 million and let’s put it towards transit and that’s a recommendation from the administration but there are a lot of other things as well, we’ve already bought 15 buses in the last year.”
Last month, the city projected a net deficit of $1 million for the first quarter of 2015. Contributing to the shortfall was a decrease in transit ridership and discounted bus passes.
Wendy Winiewski contributed to this story
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