First-time approach to building facilities will save two Northern California transit agencies up to $800,000 each
ORANGE, Calif. – Two Northern California transit agencies will save hundreds of thousands of dollars through an innovative approach to building transit facilities that will utilize pre-existing design plans of an Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) bus base.
Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) and San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) are using OCTA’s Santa Ana bus base designs as a model for their new facilities and officials there say the action will save them up to $800,000 each.
“We are very pleased to make OCTA’s plans available to our sister agencies and we look forward to continuing this practice in the future,” said Arthur T. Leahy, CEO of OCTA. “As public agencies, we need to regularly examine how we do business and how we can operate more cost effectively and efficiently.”
This first-time approach to transit facility construction stemmed from the 2007 California Transit Association conference hosted by OCTA in Anaheim where MST and RTD toured the Santa Ana base. Prior to the conference, MST was preparing to build a new facility by touring other bus bases in the state.
“There was some skepticism as to how you can transfer designs due to differences in the sites condition and elevation,” said Donna Kelsay, CEO of San Joaquin RTD. “But if Wal-Mart and Target can do it, why can’t we?”
The Santa Ana base sits on 20 acres of land with a 96,000-square-foot maintenance facility and a 15,000-square-foot parts storage area. The two-story building maintains up to 250 buses. Employees can also utilize a 11,900-square-foot operations building that includes a storage area, office and coach operator’s lounge.
OCTA’s $40.5 million project – 88 percent of which was federally funded – was completed in 2005. It is one of three bases that OCTA operates to accommodate a fleet of more than 650 vehicles.
The facility also is the only bus base in Orange County that can accommodate OCTA’s 60-foot articulated buses. Although MST does not currently operate articulated buses, they anticipate using them as part of a Bus Rapid Transit concept in the future and will plan to accommodate them in the new building.
“The Santa Ana facility is well thought out,” said Carl Sedoryk, CEO of MST. “The layout and design provide a nice flow for maintenance operations and it is apparent that attention was paid to details."
While the Santa Ana base serves as a maintenance and operations facility, MST will expand the initial design to house 220 staff members employed at the agency and a board room. To accommodate the additional space, MST will add two stories for a total of four.
Currently, MST operates two facilities, one in Salinas and one in Monterey, that provide service to 116 buses. The new bus base will allow the agency to run all operations out of one building.
San Joaquin RTD also will consolidate two facilities with its new building to accommodate its 135 buses. Additional stories will be added to the original two-story design as well as a loading dock.
Boyle Engineering designed the Santa Ana base and both MST and San Joaquin RTD are working with the firm to make design modifications to fit their specific needs. Each facility is expected to cost approximately $35 million to $45 million.
“Modeling a facility after something that has been proven to work is resourceful and practical,” said Leahy. “It is a pleasure to be of assistance to our neighboring transit agencies in California.”
