Aug. 10--The CTA said Monday it will buy 125 more Nova buses to replace 15-year-old buses -- the oldest buses in the roughly 1,800-vehicle fleet.
The $68.5 million purchase, which is expected to be approved by the CTA board Wednesday, is an add-on to a $220 million bus modernization program that is in the process of bringing 425 new buses to the transit agency since 2011, officials said.
A combination of mostly federal funds and CTA bond revenue is being used to buy the buses, the CTA said.
The majority of CTA buses in the current rolling stock are 40-foot and 60-foot buses manufactured by New Flyer Industries Inc., based in Canada.
The pending order of 125 Nova buses would piggyback on an existing contract for Nova to build 300 buses. So far, 230 of the 300 buses have been delivered to the CTA, officials said.
Nova Bus is a Canada-based subsidiary of Volvo Bus Corp.
The 125 new buses are expected to be in service as early as May, officials said. They will replace the oldest vehicles in the fleet -- the Nova 6400 Series buses, which were purchased between 2000 and 2002.
The new 40-foot Novas feature LED lighting, multiple security cameras and improved fuel economy, the CTA said.
The transit agency is also completing a midlife overhaul of more than 1,000 buses.
CTA officials say the goal is to improve service, reliability and comfort for riders.
But CTA bus ridership has been declining in recent years, due largely to buses being stuck in traffic.
Bus ridership fell 8 percent in 2014, according to the transit agency.
Rail ridership, meanwhile, increased 4 percent last year.
But because the majority of the 1.6 million rides that the CTA provides on an average weekday are on buses, CTA ridership overall declined 3 percent last year.
jhilkevitch@tribpub.com
