By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – Clallam Transit this month was awarded a federal grant of $3.65 million in federal funding to help pay for some brand new buses, including several new para-transit vehicles.

Clallam Transit General Manager Jim Fetzer credits his staff and their grant writing abilities for really beating the odds on getting this funding.

“Just to give you an idea of how competitive this program is. They received over 9 billion dollars of requests and 477 applications and they awarded 117 projects. So we were quite lucky. But we do try to go after competitive grants, so we keep a reserve to provide the match for those grants.”

What the money will pay for is 80% of the cost of 5 new full-sized buses and 5 new paratransit buses. The rest of the cost is on hand in Clallam Transit reserves.

The money will be distributed through the Washington State Dept of Transportation, and Fetzer says it will be a few months before they will cut that check, but he already knows which buses he’ll be ordering.

“They’re made by Gillig Bus Corporation in California. They’re clean diesel buses, which means they’re diesel-powered but they’re very efficient, low greenhouse emissions and very clean burning. Our whole fleet of fixed route buses is actually Gilligs. These will look a little different than our ones we currently have now. We’re getting…the newer models a little more streamlined.”

The 5 new buses will replace buses in the fleet that are 13 years old and should be delivered in one to two years. By the way, this news comes on top of last year’s news about another grant Clallam Transit won, and Fetzer says that grant paid for 4 new buses that will be delivered later this year.