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LEXTRAN FEBRUARY 2015 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 13 For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/10064948 specifcally maintenance projects around the country." He added, "Tey've really helped us with a lot of the design." Tere was $11 million coupled together from a couple of difer- ent grants, Burke explained. Afer they started the project, the project expanded and they found the land and it went from $11 million to about $26 million. "Tat became a bit of a fnancing challenge for us, but we had the grants." One of the other sources of revenue for the project was New Markets Tax Credit. Burke said they partnered with a community development entity in Lexington, Community Ventures Corp. "At the end of the day with all these New Market Tax Credits we've acquired, we're going to net about $3.5 mil- lion that we normally would have had to borrow. Tat's helped a lot." To be undertaking such a large project, staf visited other sites. One Burke mentioned was South Bend Public Transporta- tion Corp. (Transpo). "Tey had a similar experience being built on an old automobile factory site and they have LEED certifcation as well," he said. Transpo's Emil "Lucky" Reznik Administration, Maintenance and Operations Facility opened in 2010 and is certifed LEED Platinum. Forum Architects LLC led the design team for the project that included MDG and RNL Design. While there aren't concrete plans for CNG at the new facility — other than they know they will have it — the plan as is to issue an RFP for a turn-key operation. "We don't have a tremendous amount of capital," Burke explained. "It will cost us a little bit more for the fuel doing it that way, but at the same time, there's savings to it. "We're going to let some- one come in to train all of our employees, both operators and maintenance. Tey will provide the compressors, fuel stations and maintain all the equipment for us as we grow the feet." Service Highlights 67 Square Miles 290,263 Population 2,268,839 Service Miles FY2013 Making Connections Email: info@availTec.com call 814Ǧ234Ǧ3394 ext. 1100 www.availtec.com Connecting your RIDERS with safe convenient fare options Connecting YOU with the data needed to enhance their experience. Technology Update Up until about three years ago, Burke said the system had no tech- nology. "We had mechanical drop boxes, no APC/passenger counters, no GPS, no nothing," he stressed. With funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, they turned that around. As it's planned right now, they will have a design that will pro- vide public access for the CNG so a person can pull up of the street on their property and use the CNG, charging a nominal fee. Burke stressed, "We're try- ing to be good partners out in the community."