District of Squamish is working on plans for a five-acre and 27,986 square feet transit maintenance facility that could be ready by 2027.
No decision has been made yet, and the council will discuss this at a Committee of the Whole meeting tomorrow.
The facility could cost as much as $16 million.
If council decides to go ahead, the district will partner with the province and apply for federal grants for the facility so the district only has to contribute $5 million towards it.
A transit maintenance facility provides a location for storage and maintenance of a transit fleet as well as office space for management.
The facility would include maintenance bays, storage, office space, a diesel-fueling station that can be removed at a later date, a bus wash, electrical charging infrastructure and customer and employee parking.
The current facility in the business park is provided by Squamish PWTransit as part of their contract with BC Transit, but it is nearing capacity, and an MOU signed between the district and the province indicates that any expansions past 2019 would be subject to a new or upgraded facility.
“A new transit maintenance facility provides space for future expansion of the local transit system, provides space for development of a regional transit system, and provides infrastructure required for battery electric buses,” the report says.
If the current three-year expansion MOU is followed, the district will receive one bus this year and next, three in 2023 and one in 2024. If an additional bus per year follows after that, the interim expansion will be full by 2027.
“Staff anticipate that if the process is initiated in 2021, the facility would be ready for use in 2027 – this timing would work reasonably well to accommodate growth of the local transit service and support a new regional service,” staff notes.
David Cox says
Would it be possible for transit buses and school buses to share a facility?
Present yard downtown seems like underutilized that property.