COAST adds sixth bus to local fleet

--Paige Collins photo

Ryan Avery, director of transportation at COAST, tries out the driver’s seat on the new COAST bus, expected to go into operation here on Monday. The bus was funded through a WSDOT grant and a grant from the Empire Health Foundation.

COAST Transportation will add a new bus to its fleet this week. It will be the sixth bus in the fleet.

Paige Collins, executive director at the Council on Aging in Colfax, said the bus was ordered in September after a grant was received from the Washington State Department of Transportation that would cover 80 percent of the cost. The bus was ordered to add a more reliable option to the COAST fleet.

A $15,000 grant from the Empire Health Foundation covered the remaining 20 percent of the cost.

“We have a few busses right now, and a couple of them are not working so well,” said Collins. “This is a bus we need every day. That's a busy bus. It's the one you will see all the time.”

George Mackleit of Colfax will be the main driver of the new bus. The bus he had been driving has been sidelined with a cracked cylinder head.

“That's the one that will do the Harvest House run in the morning, and shopping trips during the day and provide transportation to the Colfax meal site and some special events,” Collins said.

The bus is also expected to be in service for an upcoming WSU Alumni Association event.

“They needed a bus and reached out to us,” said Collins. “I'd love for that to grow into something they do every year.”

The bus arrived in Colfax last week, and it is now at Colfax Body Repair receiving final inspections and COAST signage.

Collins said she expects the 14-passenger bus to be ready for service on Monday.

Collins, in an email to the Gazette, called the bus the “pride of our fleet.”

“This is a great new asset to our community,” she said.