NSN Aging/OPT - Transportation Development Plan Update for Orange County, NC for 1995-1999

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be noted, however, that under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, all expansion and replacement vehicles may be required to be lift-equipped. Keeping this in mind,the cost of replacement and expansion vehicles would increase as the costs of lifts would need to be added. According to the PTD, the recommended number of spares for a fleet of 25 vehicles is four; this suggests that OPT's fleet is right at the cut off if the vehicles currently out of service are not included in the ratio of four spares for every 25 vehicles. Although there are four vehicles officially out of service, approximately four of the vehicles that are in service are expecting replacement. (Table 2-3.) Vehicle Utilization Table 2-3 illustrates the current usage of the vehicle fleet. Wake County Opportunities, Inc. and OPT were asked to report hours of operation and this information can be found in Table 2-3. As shown, vehicles used five days per week are represented by solid bars and represents high usage. Vehicles used one to three days per week are shown as having low usage. In terms of actual mileage, a general rule of thumb is that such vehicles should be operating between 15,000 and 20,000 miles per year on average. Table 2-2 also presents the mileage operated by each vehicle in each of the two agencies during the past year. By examining the column "average annual mileage" for each vehicle in Table 2-2 some vehicles were operated under 20,000 miles, but this finding alone does not suggest vehicle underutilization. Naturally, backup vehicles will be operated much less, so the vehicles that have been recently acquired should be operated more in order to achieve this level of utilization. This standard cannot be applied as a requirement, however, because vehicles operated in urban service at low speeds may not achieve this level of mileage, and because peak hour requirements may call for additional vehicles that are not heavily used at other times. OPT vehicles operated under 20,000 miles are described below: • OPT Vehicle Nos. 5, 13, and 23 are in poor condition and are out-of-service awaiting replacement. • OPT Vehicle Nos. 1, 3, 17, and 18 are used as back up vehicles. Vehicle 3, which is equipped with lift equipment, is scheduled to be assigned to public route in the near future. • OPT Vehicle Nos. 6, 8, 9, and 22 are new vehicles just recieved in the summer of 1995. • OPT Vehicle No. 4 is used for demand responsive Monday through Friday year round. Usual number of riders per trip is approximately 30. -20-