Business View City & Municipal | August 2022

156 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 challenge, the DASH team is hopeful that there are technological innovations coming down the road that will help increase the overall range of their buses and also address the heating and cooling issues. “We have a very supportive city leadership and our board of directors are very supportive of our vision for electrification of our fleet,” Barna says. “We’re investing a lot in our facility with the intent that we’ll be growing our fleet dramatically over the next 10 to 15 years. We’re applying for federal grants that would allow us to really accelerate that over the next three to five years. Our intent is that, by 2035 to 2037, 100% of our fleet will be electric.” That’s an aggressive target date. In fact, it is one of the fastest transitions being discussed from transit companies around the country. “We’re proud of that,” boasts Barna, “and we’re making plans and doing our due diligence to make that happen.” PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n WSP www.wsp.com