Port Authority upgrades seats, lights in new buses

Port Authority will begin receiving 54 new 40- foot Gillig buses this week to replace older vehicles.

Those vehicles will look mostly the same outside — an exception will be vehicle numbers on the roof to identify it quickly in an emergency — but the inside will have a number of design changes the authority’s board approved in March, authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said.

The changes begin with the view. Instead of white interior lights from dusk to dawn, the new vehicles will have sapphire blue lights. Some drivers had complained that white lights created a distracting glare.

The vehicles will feature plastic seats instead of cloth. The seats are less expensive and received a positive review during a yearlong test, probably because underneath they have the same cushion as cloth seats.

“Gone are the days of sitting in a wet seat,” Mr. Brandolph said, “because now you can see before you sit down whether it’s wet. And they’re easier to wipe off.”

Another new feature will be 29- inch screens at the front and middle that will display the next stop and real- time alerts for riders. They also can display advertising.

Those screens will replace red LED screens at the front of buses now.

The buses also will have 19 USB ports for riders instead of 14. Drivers also will have seats that many feel are more comfortable.

The new buses will be used throughout the system once maintenance workers test them and install local features like fare boxes and route numbers.

The buses cost $ 34.5 million, paid mostly through grants: $ 26.8 in federal funds, $ 6.8 million from the state and $ 830,000 in local funds.

In March, CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said the changes could become the new prototype for the authority’s buses.

Mr. Brandolph said the agency would like to switch more of its fleet from clean diesel to an alternative fuel such as electricity or natural gas, but those designs are substantially more expensive.

The authority replaces about 50 of its 720 buses every year. Buses must be replaced every 12 years or 500,000 miles on the road, whichever comes first.