Right Lane Cruiser
01-30-2009, 07:09 AM
Meckler said he was thrilled that the $11.8 million would be going to serve the NFTA’s greatest need rather than disappearing. (http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/564438.html)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Daimler_-_Orion_VII_Diesel_Electric_Hybrid.jpgJerry Zremski - The Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com) - Jan. 30, 2009
A total of 70 hybrid buses sounds like a good fleet to me. :) --Ed.
WASHINGTON — The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority will get 25 new hybrid buses, thanks to a federal decision Thursday rescuing $11.8 million in federal funding that was set to disappear.
That money originally was set aside by Congress in 2004 to renovate the DL&W Terminal at the inner harbor, but federal officials later ruled that a museum originally proposed for the site was an ineligible use of federal funding.
That prompted Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, to push federal officials to allow that money to be used for buses instead — and to push the NFTA to agree to use other funds for the terminal project.
Thursday, the U. S. Department of Transportation agreed with Higgins’ proposal.
“Allowing these funds to vanish into the bureaucratic abyss of Washington was never an option,” Higgins said.
And even though it took federal officials more than a year to agree to the reprogrammed funding, NFTA Executive Director Lawrence M. Meckler said… http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/564438.html
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Daimler_-_Orion_VII_Diesel_Electric_Hybrid.jpgJerry Zremski - The Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com) - Jan. 30, 2009
A total of 70 hybrid buses sounds like a good fleet to me. :) --Ed.
WASHINGTON — The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority will get 25 new hybrid buses, thanks to a federal decision Thursday rescuing $11.8 million in federal funding that was set to disappear.
That money originally was set aside by Congress in 2004 to renovate the DL&W Terminal at the inner harbor, but federal officials later ruled that a museum originally proposed for the site was an ineligible use of federal funding.
That prompted Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, to push federal officials to allow that money to be used for buses instead — and to push the NFTA to agree to use other funds for the terminal project.
Thursday, the U. S. Department of Transportation agreed with Higgins’ proposal.
“Allowing these funds to vanish into the bureaucratic abyss of Washington was never an option,” Higgins said.
And even though it took federal officials more than a year to agree to the reprogrammed funding, NFTA Executive Director Lawrence M. Meckler said… http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/564438.html