Inaugural Ceremony Scheduled to launch Valley Transit’s New Bus Fleet.

January 25, 2005

Valley Transit will launch its new bus fleet Saturday, January 29, 2005 with an inaugural ceremony at the downtown Appleton Transit Center, 100 E. Washington St. Dignitaries from all levels of government are expected to be on hand to share in the celebration. General Manager Chuck Kamp and Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna will host the event, and would like to extend an open invitation to residents of the Fox Cities to share in the festivities. Valley Transit will operate published route service with free rides all day.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM on Saturday.     

“Valley Transit has a long successful history of regional municipal cooperation, and we are proud that our service connects the many communities in the Fox Cities, says Valley Transit General Manager, Chuck Kamp. “These new buses will allow Valley Transit to continue to provide quality public transportation to the communities we serve.”

Capital funding for Valley Transit’s new fleet is made possible through commitments made at the federal, state and local levels. Roughly 80% of the funding is provided through a transportation grant administered by the Federal Transit Administration and distributed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.  The Wisconsin Department of Transportation coordinates capital requests from all the transit systems in the state and makes one earmark request at the federal level. It is through this coordinated effort that medium sized systems such as Valley Transit can compete with many larger bus systems throughout the United States for limited federal dollars.

The remaining 20% is provided from a capital replacement fund made possible through yearly contributions by the municipalities and counties who participate in Valley Transit. This fund allows Valley Transit to replace capital equipment on systematic schedule without placing undue burden on the local tax levies.

These new “blue” buses represent only the third set of new buses purchased by the system since it was acquired by the city of Appleton in 1978. The new fleet of twenty buses will consist of the
16 – 32’ Orion VII low-floor buses delivered in the fall of 2004 and 4 – 40’ Orion VII low-floor buses to be delivered in the fall of 2005.

This new fleet will be used to provide daily public transit service to the communities of the Fox Cities for the next 12 to 15 years. Valley Transit is retiring the last of its 1980 GMC new look buses, and a portion of the existing primary fleet of 1992 Orion V buses. The remaining buses in the current fleet will be moved to secondary service where they will be used to provide tripper service and park and ride service for events such as Octoberfest. A Valley Transit bus operates an average of 12 years and 500,000 miles while providing primary service. The 24-year-old GMC buses sold in December of 2004 had an average vehicle mileage of 750,000 miles.

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Valley Transit serves the many communities of the Fox Cities, providing safe, reliable, and convenient public transportation. Specialized transportation is also provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act by Valley Transit II, for people who are unable to use the fixed route buses. 

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