Thursday, October 1, 2026
It's going to be out with the old and in with the new for buses at Intercity Transit.
The Intercity Transit Authority authorized General Manager Emily Bergkamp to sign a $31.4 million contract to buy 18 buses from Gillig LLC of Livermore, California. The authority made the decision at a meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Intercity Transit Senior Procurement and Project Management Coordinator Brendan Houx, said the agency is replacing 18 40-foot buses that have reached their useful life under guidelines set by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Those standards require heavy-duty transit buses to be replaced after 12 years or 500,000 miles of travel, whichever comes first.
The new buses will use diesel-electric hybrid technology, similar to hybrid buses already being used by the agency, according to Intercity Transit Fleet and Facility Director Jonathan Yee. The buses come with a smaller diesel engine that is paired with electric motors.
When asked whether the buses would come equipped with required safety and operational features or if the agency would need to purchase those separately, Yee said the buses will arrive ready for service.
The buses are going to include operator safety barriers, radio communications equipment and the agency’s computer-aided dispatch and automatic vehicle location (CAD/AVL) system.
There was also a question as to what would happen with the old buses. Yee said since 15 of the 18 buses were purchased with federal funds, they will be disposed of according to federal rules. The buses will be sent to public auction, and the proceeds will be reported back to FTA to determine whether Intercity Transit still needs to return any funds.
The remaining three buses, which were state-funded, may be offered to other transit agencies before auctioning them off if no one is looking to buy outright. Yee said they have a supplier from California who often buys and refurbishes old buses from Intercity Transit and other agencies.
The contract was competitively bid through Washington Department of Enterprise Services. More than half of the funding for the purchase comes from an FTA grant through its Low or No Emission Program.
Houx said the deal with Gillig calls for two planned purchases under the agency’s fleet replacement plan. Staffers are combining the purchases into a single contract because manufacturing lead times can take up to 24 months. As a result, delivery is not expected until 2027.
9 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Tanker1982
All good. BUT , is this at local taxpayers expense or a federal/ state grant?
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
OlyBlues
IT continues it's astonishing expenditures and waste of our tax dollars. Looking at neighboring county's buses...Grays Harbor, Mason and Lewis Counties, they are doing just fine not having to have the best most expensive transit buses, bus stops, headquarters, transit centers, etc. Seeing empty IT buses driving all over town while IT blows millions of dollars on frivolous expenses is a slap in the face to taxpayers. You will never read a article about IT saving money or reducing expenditures because they don't have to. They are drowning in tax dollars and bathing in the trough. It is disgusting to see all the waste while other government agencies like the county struggle to survive.
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
coordinator
IT started 2025 with a cash balance of $250 million and planned to end 2025 with about $200 million. I've never heard of any organization of this size with that much excessive carryover. Wow. It's easy to look up. Just google 'Intercity Transit Budget'. It's a required public record. I think they're getting way too much tax money. They get 4/10 of one percent sales tax revenue. I think it should be 2/10, but it's almost impossible to change. You have to have over 300,000 signatures on a petition to even propose a change. Prop 1 back in 2018 is what started this boondoggle.
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
LindaD
"The buses are going to include operator safety barriers...". Now that's funny!! The drivers need safety barriers from the passengers and then they wonder why people don't ride their buses! No passenger safety barriers.
What's the cost per passenger mile? How many people use the busses? Of those, how many are the reason for the "operator safety barriers"?
Why are the windows blacked out? Could it be so we won't notice the busses are empty? Or so we can't see whose on the bus before we enter, just in case we want to avoid the passengers who might be the reason for the "operator safety barriers".
I quit riding the bus decades ago when another passenger was whispering angrily to his invisible friend about me. My car was in the shop. I got off, bought a Toyota that would never fail and stayed off the bus. Forever.
Thursday, January 29 Report this
JW
Its mind-boggling how much money IT is raking in and then turning around and blowing. All so some lefties can feel warm and fuzzy about emissions and the climate.
Thursday, January 29 Report this
DaveinOlyWA
Not ONE POSITIVE COMMENT HERE!
Maybe its time to stop counting your pennies and start looking at the dollars cost of not supporting your community. What would you prefer? More traffic on the streets? Or more buses?
Seems like we have enough cars already but maybe you are ok with spending 3 cycles of the light instead of only two EVERY EVENING COMMUTE to save yourself $20 a year?
Then we have people disputing the cost of driver safety? WTF? How about the people at social services who work behind bullet proof glass. Are you butt hurt because you had to pay for that too? Maybe we should look at the fact that bus drivers make 100K a year mostly because its a risky job that a lot of people are afraid to do?
That is what dealing with the public entails; a lot of personal risk and that applies to convenience store clerks, healthcare workers, etc.
But then again if what I see here is an example of the public, I don't blame them for being scared.
Thursday, January 29 Report this
Kimadney
Love the hybrid direction but I have never understood why Thurston county need 40 foot busses. Can we consider smaller more efficient buses?
Thursday, January 29 Report this
1Cochamamba9
I totally support providing public transportation options. However, during my 25+ years of living in Olympia, I have never seem a bus totally full ... possibly not even 1/2 full. Consider acquiring several smaller buses for selected routes?
Thursday, January 29 Report this
PollyinWA
Almost $2 MIL a bus??? Seems excessive.
Thursday, January 29 Report this