The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 31

4 Pittsburgh Press, March 14, 1979 B-9 U.S. May Have To Look Abroad Lack Of Bids Threatens 'Wheelchair' Bus "fl 3 Drive all you want There's no mileage charge! You pay for gas Rates are non-discountable and subject to change without notice Car must be returned to renting location. We drawn after three manufacturers built prototypes and after years of hearings and debate. Transbus has been vigorously supported by the increasingly well-organized lobby for the handicapped. When the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, one of Adams' agencies, mandated Transbus last September, it agreed that the September 1979 deadline could be changed if it proved unrealistic.

UMTA grants provide 80 percent of the purchase price for new buses. Local authorities pav the other 20 percent. WulMitfwi fot Servile torpedo the Transbus program so they could recover development costs on their new-look buses. Bernard said that Flxible estimated roughly that each Transbus would cost about $230,000 about twice the cost of a new bus today. The Department of Transportation, he said, "has been seeking a more productive bus.

We believe that a bus that weighs more, gets fewer miles per gallon, has fewer seats and less standing room is not a more productive bus." The specifications for Transbus were feature GM cars and otter Stamp Certificates on rentals U.S. states. per day no mileage charge rate in eflect 6pm Thurs 6pm Mon. but rental begin before noon Sun 2 day minimum charge larger cars available at similar savings. in Green all I Rent a car Ilka thi Chevrolet Chevelte or similar tut car 0 fek tn Judge Drops Crash Charges the Transbus program and has insisted that the specifications were within the capability of American manufacturers.

He said he was "very disappointed that (Grumman Flxible) has said they do not intend to bid. I hope that General Motors, with its multimillion-dollar operation, will help us carry out the promise to make an accessible bus." Adams said it "would be a shame if we have to go abroad." If nobody bids, he said, "I will have to take a look at the program. But I'm not going to falter at this point." Thomas J. Bernard, Grumman Flxi-ble's president, said "we made what we think was a good-faith effort to try to be However, he said, development of Transbus was a "tremendous technological that the "terms and conditions of the contract presented an onerous business risk," and that existing buses already solve "80 percent" of the accessibility problem. Both Flxible and GM now are selling new-look buses for about $105,000 to $120,000 each.

Both have contended that those buses meet most of the requirements of full accessibility and use proven technology. Proponents of Transbus have charged that GM and Flxible have attempted to new Misses' Whitehall, in which Joseph Cheroki, 20, of 5427 Youngridge Drive, Baldwin, was killed. Although both Denniston and the victim were in the same car, police were unable to establish who was driving. Much Oil Discarded WASHINGTON The 1 billion gallons of lubricating oil discarded annually would fill a tank 90 feet across and one mile high. A judge has dismissed homicide and drunk driving charges against a Mount Oliver man whose friend was fatally injured in an automobile accident.

Charges against Thomas Denniston, 20, of 131 Margaret St. were dismissed yesterday by Common Pleas Judge James R. McGregor on grounds that Whitehall police failed to provide any evidence indicating that the defendant was the driver of the vehicle. Charges were filed against Denniston in the aftermath of an automobile accident Nov. 11 on Brownsville Road.

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Both available in sizes 16Vi to 24', regularly 28.00, sale 20.99. To order by phone, call 471-4000 Budget Store Misses' Coats, Downtown and all stores WASHINGTON One of the nation's two biggest builders of buses says it will not bid on a contract to manufacture 503 new buses that, by federal regulation, are the only kind transit authorities can buy with federal aid after September. The announcement by Grumman Flxi-ble makes it probable that no American firm will seek to sell the controversial new vehicle, called Transbus. Transbus is required to have low floors and ramps to make- it accessible for wheelchair occupants. General Motors the other American builder, has been rumored for months to be out of the running in the Transbus stakes.

GM spokesman Frank Ferone said Monday, "We're still in the process of studying those specifications and, in all honesty, it does not appear likely that we will bid." Bid-opening on the first Transbus order has been postponed from this month to May. Several foreign manufcturers have expressed some interest in Transbus, but it is not known if they will bid. Federal transit legislation includes a strong "Buy American" clause, but a provision would permit Transportation Secretary Brock Adams to waive that clause. Adams has been a strong supporter of Lower level Downtown kJOUV. -4ooo- call 471 fashion at a price and all suburban stores.

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