HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-01-08 - AGENDA REPORTS - PURCHASE OF 13 GILLIG BUSES (2)NEW BUSINESS
DATE: January 8,'1991
AGENDA REPORT
City Manager Approval
Item to be presented b :
John E. Medina
SUBJECT: PURCHASE OF 13 GILLIG "SPIRIT" BUSES FOR LOCAL SERVICE
DEPARTMENT: Public Wor
BACKGROUND
At their April 17, 1990 meeting, the City Council adopted the first phase of the
Transit Study and directed staff to proceed with the issuance of RFP's for the
operation and acquisition of buses with exhaust emission particulate traps.
On August 28, 1990, the City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting passed
to second reading Ordinance Number 90-25 and determined that it is in the public
interest and necessity to direct staff to work with the Foothill Transit Zone
and negotiate a purchase price from the Gillig Corporation for 13 "Spirit" buses.
After working with the Foothill Transit Zone, our bus consultant, and the Gillig
Corporation, Staff recommends that a purchase order be issued to the Gillig
Corporation for 13 "Spirit" Buses at a price of $143,389 per bus sans the
$25,000 particulate trap.
SANTA CLARITA TRANSIT PLAN
The adopted Transit Plan requires the financing of 22 new buses to implement the
required improvements to the City's local and commuter routes. The Plan as it
relates to this report, recommends 13 buses for the new local routes scheduled
to begin July 1, 1991. Eleven buses are required to operate seven routes and
the remaining two buses are needed as reserves. They will be to rotated through
the fleet for routine maintenance and to serve as an emergency backup in case a
line bus goes out of service -due to an accident or major equipment failure.
JOINT PARTICIPATION WITH FOOTHILL TRANSIT ZONE
Last August, Staff became aware that a nearby transit authority called the
Foothill Transit Zone was about to negotiate the purchase of Gillig "Spirit"
buses, the same type of bus (midsize heavy-duty bus) Santa Clarita needed for
its local transit service. The City Council directed staff to work with the
Foothill Transit Zone to make one large order and thereby increase its ability
to negotiate a lower cost.
Working with the Foothill Transit Zone, City staff negotiated a price of
$143,389 for each "Spirit" bus for a total purchase price of $1,864,057. This
does.not include tax, delivery and exhaust emission particulate traps. In order
to compare this quote to other like buses, particulate traps were priced
separately. Traps are quoted at a price of $25,000 per bus for -a total of
$325,000. With trapsAPPE
the urchase price isA$2,18 7
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PURCHASE OF GILLIG "SPIRIT" BUSES
Page 2
To ensure that the negotiated price of $143,389 was competitive with the sale of
similar buses sold to other agencies, the City, through the LACTC, acquired the
services of Richard Davis of Transit Maintenance Consultants. Mr. Davis found
that the price quoted to the City is lower than the previous five bids Gillig
has submitted over the last year. Mr. Davis' comparison takes into. account the
various options the City has chosen and an inflation rate of four percent. See
attachment I. However, he stated the .City should further investigate the cost
of the particulate trap. Staff has completed its inquiry and will discuss its
findings below.
PARTICULATE TRAP
The purpose of a trap is to reduce the amount of particulate emissions from
going into the air. Its working concept is relatively simple. Trap
particulates in a ceramic device, heat the device to burn the particulates into
an ash and periodically service the trap.
Nine months ago when the City Council directed staff to order buses with
particulate traps, it was generally believed that sufficient technology existed
to make their use in fleet service feasible. Subsequently, staff has discovered
that trap technology has not kept up with its expectations. See Attachment II.
To date, particulate traps are still in the experimentalstage, and no transit
agency .in the United States use traps on their regular fleet buses. The Miami
Valley .Transit Authority serving Dayton, Ohio has just received particulate
traps on their order of 10 "Spirits." However, The traps for Dayton evolved
through five generations before the fifth and current generation attained
limited success. The traps are still not certified. Traps caused delivery of
Dayton's "Spirits" to be late and cost $15,000 more than they were bid.
Normally, it takes four months from the ordering to the delivery of a bus. The
Dayton buses took 14 months. Dayton has yet to place these "Spirits" into
service. Therefore no performance data is available. A report from the Gillig
Corporation is attached with this report, (Attachment II) and a representative
from Gillig will be on hand at the meeting to provide technological support on
traps and air quality standards and respond to Council questions.
City staff does not recommend equipping Santa Clarita's entire fleet of buses
with particulate traps for the following reasons:
1. The cost of this new experimental technology is very expensive, $25,000 per
bus or $325,000 for the 13 buses. This represents nearly 15 percent of the
total cost.
2. Maintenance costs at this time can only be estimated, and no actual costs
are available because the experimental models have not been in service long
enough to gather sufficient data.
3. The lead time required to install traps on buses is one year.
4.. If traps are installed on all buses, a viable potential exists that the
entire fleet could be grounded if a design flaw is discovered in the trap.
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PURCHASE OF GILLIG "SPIRIT" BUSES
Page 3
5. There is a good possibility that .the cost of traps will decrease. due to
increased manufacturing efficiency and the addition of manufactures.
Currently there is only one manufacture of the trap, the Donaldson
Corporation, who in turn imports a key trap component from Germany.
However, this is not to say that the City of Santa Clarita should not be a part
of the solution in lowering particulate diesel emissions from the air. Staff
recommends that one of the 13 buses be made particulate. trap ready so that six
months after their delivery, a trap may be installed. All buses ordered will
conform to Federal, California Air Resources Board, and So. California Air
Quality Management District clean air standards.
The one bus ordered with the trap may then be monitored for performance and
maintenance costs. With this data, staff may then be able to adequately address
the cost of running buses with particulate traps.
Staff recommends that only one bus be made particulate trap ready. To ready the
entire fleet may not prove prudent, as future trap designs may evolve in a way
which may be more effective, but not necessarily fit the current installation
design patterns, thereby rendering their "trap readiness" ineffective.
SUMMARY
Based on staff's investigation of the Gillig "Spirit" through various agencies
using "Spirits," our consultant Transit Maintenance Consultants, the County .of
Los Angeles Public Works, LACTC, private transit operators and our own staff's
knowledge of Gillig products and post production service, staff believes that it
is recommending to the Council a very good midsize heavy-duty bus at a
competitive price.
The City should assist in building the bridge across the technology gap that
exists between experimental particulate traps and a trap ready for regular fleet
service by dedicating one bus as experimental. This would make Santa Clarita
the smallest transit agency in the country using this technology.
Staff has hired a design consultant to develop three transit 'logos and color
schemes for all transit vehicles. The three choices will come to Council for
their consideration and selection at the next meeting or the first meeting in
February.
RECOMMENDATION
Direct staff to issue a purchase order to the Gillig Corporation for. the issue
of 13 "Spirit" buses. One bus shall be made particulate trap ready, and the
trap shall be installed when it is available for installation.
10/26/90
Date of Bid
SANTA CLARITA BID PRICE
JUSTIFICATION
8/90
Foothill/
=i
Y
%*
Property Santa Clarita
Syracuse Monterey
Olympia
Colo Springs Dayton
Date of Bid
10/90
8/90
8/90
12/89
3/90
11/89
No. of Buses
20
2
11
8
2
10
Bid Price
$168,389
$130,315
$136,563
$134,987
$129,072
$155,903
No Taxes
(delivered)
:zmzccaaaasaasaaxvaaxxaaaaaaavasxanaaacxaaaszavaaaaaaaxaman:zacaxaaaaaaaaaaaavaaxaavavaaazxxxxaaaaaa
Lift
Incl.
Incl.
Incl.
Incl.
$2100
$2100
A/C
Incl.
$2100
$2100
$2100
$2100
Incl.
Farebox
Electronic
$4400
$4400
$600
$4400
Incl.
Destination
Electronic
$2250
Incl.
Incl.
$2250
$550
Signs
Particulate
incl.
$24,900
$24,900
$24,900
$24,900
$9,900
Traps
Retarder
Incl.
$3250
$3250
Incl.
Incl.
Incl.
y Seats
•�C
Incl.
($1100)
($TOO)
($350)
Incl.
($700)
Body &
Touch,Tape
$450
($180)
Incl.
$450
$450
Doors
Door
Remote
--
($600)
($600)
($600)
--
--
Mirrors
Passenger
Pullcords
($400)
incl.
($400)
Incl.
Incl.
Signals -
Aluminum
Incl.
$1500
Incl.
$1500
$1500
$1500
Wheels
Aux Oil
Incl.
$360
$360
$360
$360
$360
Filter
exsaaacvzcaxaazaaaaaaaaaaaasaacaaaza:aaaaaaaaavvzmmavnzavavvs:axaaxxxxxxxaaaxxaaaxxaxazaazazaaaaaaa=
Sub Total
$167,425
$170,093
$163,097
$167;132
$168,563
Inflation
1,005
1,021
5,382
4,011
6,086
4:0%/year
Total
$168,389
$168,430
$171,110
$168,479
$171,143
$174,631
These costs are listed to assist in the comparison of our bid price to those of other agencies.
13
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'GILLIG CORPORATION Hywrd TEL: 415-785-6819 Dec 26.90 7:58 NO -006 P.02iO4
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GILLIG CORPORATION Box sma
HAYWARD, CA JFOPNIA
X540.3008
TELEPHONE 4.5'785•'500
December 20, 199C FAX4'5785681g
Mr. Dennis Luppens
Administrative Assistant
City of Santa Clarita
23920 Valencia Boulevard, Suite 300
City -of Santa Clarita, California 91355
Dear Dennis:
As requested, enclosed is information pertinent to your decision
regarding the benefits and feasibility of equipping your new buses
with particulate traps.
Basically, particulate traps are.automatic,
devices, attached to a vehicle's exhaust, to
being exhausted to the air. In deciding on
essentially six main issues to consider -
Clean Air Benefits
self-cleaning filtering
stop diesel soot from
their use, there are
The traps do reduce the particulate (soot) level in the
vehicle's exhaust gases, however, they do not reduce other
emissions such as NOx and HC's. The particulate matter (PM) cr
soot is not harmful to the atmosphere, in that it does not
create smog or ozone depletion like the other exhaust elements.
So. the non-use of traps does not help in cleaning up an eye
sore, but it also does not harm the environment.
2. Ccmoliance with Reculation5
In the last few years. both the EPA and CARB have introduced
successively stricter regulations governing exhaust emissions,
and the vehicles as proposed (non -trap) comply with the EPA's.
CARB's and the South Coast AQMD's applicable regulations (see
attached letter),
3. Trap „Reliabilitv
:rap technology is still in its early developing states. Trap
development started about, 2 to 3 years ago, but the normal
development cycle for such a device is 5 to 6 years. and,
consequently. there is no reliability history for this still
constantly evolving device. There is not even one trap -
equipped production bus running in revenue service in the U.S.
today. There are only about a dozen retrofitted field test
vehicles running in experimental programs. and these are
constantly monitored and updated, and so have not accumulated
any substantial mileage history. Gillig began development of
a trap system for the Spirit in November, 1989, with the
Dlald:,on Company (the only viable trap manufacturer in the
t`ka Cummins Engine Comrar,y re.enr:y imcided to
e,^,t proar'%:' 3n_ ..._
GILL.IG CORPORATION Hywrd TEL: 415-785-6819
Mr. Dennis Luppens
December 20. 1990
Page 2
Dec 26,90 7:58 No.006 P.03iO4
0
our design has evolved through four generations of development,
and as yet, we do not have a system with consistent reliability.
4. Cost Effectiveness
'.Craps are an extra sophisticated device which not only cost a lot
more to buy, but will also require service and, consequently, will
cast more to operate. In addition, the fact that the traps have
unproven reliability means there will be operating problems as
well which will result in additional road calls and downtime,
Attached is an estimated analysis which shows ar. annual savings
of about $200,000 if you avoid using the unproven traps. That
extends to almost $2.5MM over the life -of the fleet and still
does not include the cost and ridership impact of road calls
and downtime.
5. purpose and Intent
The purpose and intent of these buses is to provide a service
to the public as well as improving traffic and the environment
by getting people to use public transit and not their cars,
However, traps will likely work against that purpose because of
their unproven reliability, they will create sceduling and
ridership problems which will discourage transit use. A
slightly cleaner bus sitting idle in a yard beca-se of service
problems does not promote clean.air, because it forces the public
to use many older and "dirtier" cars which is certainly opposite
to the purpose and intent of this procurement.
6. Timing
Certified particulate traps will not be available until late 199:
for large engines (see attached Detroit Diesel letter). However,
no engine or trap manufacturer has made a commit-ent to certify
traps for medium sized engines (as used in the Spirit). Conse-
quently. Gillis would be unable to build a Spirit with a
certified trap until some time in 1992. We can zrovide an
uneertif_1e trap in 1991. but the leadtime is approximately 6
mc,iths a::d this would delay delivery of these buses to about
Seat./et. of 1991.
We hope the above explanations and comments will he_p the City reach
an in`orme- an! re,jonsible decision, It is Gillig's recommendation
that he C.ty not purchase buses with the unproven and costly traps.
We believe that every Citizen and company should do whatever possih:Q
to clean up our environment. but tate major burden of development
should be bourne by 1.;._cer cr : �;:�aa::;ons that can 64, to be
"guinea pigs" and have the an(' 9 technical c=-pabilities to
deal with developing technology. We reepe,tfully s•,;_est the City
GLL-IG CORPORATION Hywrd TEL: 415-785-6819
•
Ur. Dennis Luppens
December 20. 1990
page 3
Dec 26.90 7:58 No.006 P.04/0u
10
consider a demonstration program at a later stage when a more rel_able
and cost effective trap becomes availabl%.
Gilliq intends to serve the City's bus needs and will provide, to the
test of our ability. the safest. most reliable and most cost-effective
buses possible. If you have any questions on the above, please call.
Very truly yours,
GULIG CORPORATION
Eiji Kinoshita
Sales Engineering Coordinator
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14. Reich
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