AUBURN — Operators of the Twin City’s bus system are eager to get three new bigger, beefy purple buses on the road.

The Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee took delivery this month of three new heavy-duty Gillig kneeling buses, part of a deal bringing 18 of the buses to Maine’s cities.

“Portland Metro got seven, South Portland got three, we got three and Bangor got five,” said Marsha Bennett, transit coordinator for the committee. “Now, we’re waiting for the company reps to come out and inspect them and make sure they’re in showroom condition and ready to go.”

The buses were manufactured by California-based Gillig Corp. and driven, one buy one, from the company’s Hayward, Calif., plant. The buses are built to be more rugged and durable than many of the CityLink buses currently on the road. 

Maintenance problems with some of the buses have meant that Western Maine Transportation Services, the operators of the CityLink  system, have had to use their own buses and some borrowed from the Bethel-area’s Mountain Explorer system, to keep Lewiston-Auburn on schedule.

“Let’s face it, roads around here are tough,” said Harold Allen, transportation manager for WMTS. “But these are supposed to be heavy-duty transit buses. You just look at them and they look beefy.”

The tires on the new buses are about 10 inches taller than those on the current fleet, giving the new Gillig’s a higher clearance. The first step on to the bus is actually higher than other CityLink buses, but hydraulics can lower that step and a ramp can be extended to let wheelchairs on.

“They actually work better at curbside, but we don’t think we’ll have as many problems from the snowbanks and the potholes,” he said.

But Allen said one of the biggest benefits is that the buses and their parts were made in the U.S. Replacement parts for the system’s Bluebird-manufactured buses, purchased in 2006, are made outside of the country and can take months to order. The system had three of the Bluebird buses go down at the same time earlier this month, causing CityLink to cancel some runs on the Minot Avenue route.

A $5 million federal stimulus grant to the state of Maine paid for 13 of the buses, including all of the Twin Cities buses. Federal Transit Administration matching grants paid for the remaining five.

Bennett said Gillig’s representatives will be in Maine next week, inspecting Portland’s seven buses and South Portland’s three. 

“Then, they’ll come up here,” she said. She expects the company’s inspections and staff training will be finished in April and the new buses will be cleared for service.

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