The head of Lexington’s mass transit system said officials await details of the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill passed in Congress. But Lextran General Manager Jill Barnett sees it stabilizing funding over the next five years.
In total, $107 billion is expected to come to public transit. Barnett said all the so-called formula dollars are dedicated to capital purchases. “The infrastructure bill is very likely to make available new and additional dollars for bus replacements or bus additions here in Lexington, possibly expansion of our electric vehicle fleet. Obviously, we know President Biden is very into the electrification and electric vehicles, so I am certain we’ll see more money in the low or no emissions vehicle program,” explained Barnett.
While it’s likely to mean money to replace, and even add, to the bus fleet, Barnett said the talk at the annual mass transit conference focused on employee numbers. “A lot of us spoke about the fact that, through the years, when there’s been a need or request for service, we’ve always- we don’t have the money for vehicles or we don’t have the money to do that service and, that isn’t our answer right now. We might have the money or have the vehicles, but we don’t have the employees to be able to provide it,” said Barnett.
Barnett said higher pay could help. She noted the recently-approved collective bargaining agreement with the union increased starting wages for drivers to just over 18 dollars an hour. Lextran currently has 75 fixed-route buses. In August, she said Lextran was down 20 drivers. Barnett added efforts are being made to fill positions.
