The DTA Will Be Adding a Few Electric Buses to It’s Fleet

According to the Duluth News Tribune Jim Caywood who is the Director of maintenance for the DTA (Duluth Transit Authority) was the first to see the new electric bus that will be used in Duluth in the near future. He said this particular bus is almost done and should arrive around the second week of June.

This is just one of a half dozen fully electric buses to be used in Duluth that will be rolled out for use one at a time. The buses will be brought here on a flatbed truck from  Greenville South Carolina. Once the first bus arrives there will be extensive training with drivers and maintenance staff.

Jeff Pumphrey who is the General Manager for the DTA said that the Duluth Police , Fire Department and Medical Emergency Responders will also need to be made familiar with the buses since they are a high voltage vehicle. Because of all the training the buses will not be on the road for a few weeks after they arrive.

The DTA was awarded a $6.3 million dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration in 2015 to receive six buses. Part of the goal of the grant was to see how these buses run in cold weather and an area with lot's of hills. Duluth sure fits the bill for those two categories!