September, 2022 Newsletter SCRTD A Quarterly report brought to you by South Central Regional Transit SCRTD Wins Federal Grants to Bring Electric Bus Service to region The United States Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded the South Central Regional District (SCRTD) two Low or No-Emission (Low-No) grants totaling $5,583,764 to purchase up to six low-emission electric battery buses, charging infrastructure, staff training and to allow SCRTD to purchase the land it currently leases as its headquarters in Sunland Park. The district is also planning to order two electric powered vans to be used in our planned paratransit service. SCRTD Executive Director David Armijo said that the electric buses will be used on the agency's Yellow and Silver Routes that operate from Sunland Park to El Paso's Downtown Transit Center and the city's Westside. "The electric buses will be built in the US by Gillig, a long-time, US-based manufacturer of buses with an expected delivery of March 2024," Armijo said. "The buses will be heavy-duty 35 foot buses that will accelerate SCRTD's conversion to a zero-emission fleet. This funding along with the additional grant funding for the acquisition of the land we now lease and the building of a facility to support the electric and low-emission buses is another step in the progression of SCRTD into a full-fledged regional transportation agency." Vol.2 New StarTrans Bus Added to Fleet The District received a 25 foot bus from Liquid Springs Bus Manufacturer. The bus is new was used for a few months as a promotional bus and is now in service. This may include operating on the Red or Turquoise bus routes. Five new bus are on order and expect to see some delivered by the summer 2023. Two new buses have been added to the fleet to replace two older buses that were retired earlier this year. Additionally, new vans are on order to support our new vanpool program. These new programs are scheduled for fall 2022 and summer 2023. Vehicle delivery has been delayed due to the pandemic and may affect project scheduling. Record Ridership – 9193 Rides Ridership reached a new record with over 9193 rides during the month of August. Bus service increases and corresponding ridership growth has occurred every year since the district began service in 2016. Moreover, during the past year, the South Central RTD added or expanded frequency on bus routes. The newest route, the Copper route operates from Dona Ana Village to downtown LAS Cruces via the Mesilla Valley Intermodal Transit Terminal and connecting service to the town of Mesilla. Vol.2 SCRTD Safety Plan The South Central Regional Transit District (SCRTD) is developing a Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP), in accordance with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) final rule 49 CFR Part 673. This rule requires the development of a uniform system of public transit safety management, called the Safety Management System (SMS).SCRTD will use the safety management processes to guide the prioritization of safety, and allocate our organizational resources (such as people, funding, and technology) to integrate into our everyday operations Employment Opportunity September Birthdays Internal Position Administrative Aid Martin Perez 4 Department: Administration Reports to: Finance Officer & HR Manager Full Time, Permanent Starting salary: $15.00 Apply Today!! Contact Sara Vasquez for more Vol. 2