Amtran is asking permission from PennDOT to add three buses to its fleet, which is nominally at 26, because its spare-bus cushion for peak usage isn’t big enough, given increased demands resulting from the addition last year of a new route to Tyrone.

PennDOT is a major source of funding for Amtran, and generally restricts spare-bus numbers for transit agencies to about 25% of their total number of buses, according to Amtran CEO Josh Baker.

At peak usage during school hours, Amtran has 22 buses on the road, and four spares aren’t enough of a cushion to be sustainable, given routine and long-term maintenance requirements and crash repairs, Baker said.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he said.

While Amtran is asking for permission to add three buses, it is likely to get permission for only two, based on “preliminary indications” from PennDOT, Baker said.

Two more buses would boost the total to 28.

If PennDOT accedes to the request, Amtran would begin seeking funds from PennDOT and the Federal Transit Administration, if past practice holds.

Three buses purchased this year from Gillig in California cost $730,000 each.

It takes 13 months to design and manufacture a bus once an order is placed, Baker said.

The organization would likely order buses that largely conform with the design of most of its existing buses, to minimize the need for expansion of the inventory of replacement parts on campus, according to Baker.

While the nominal size of the fleet is 26, the actual size for now is 29, as it includes the organization’s last three diesel electric hybrids — 2012 models at their service life expectancies, that have traveled more than the 500,000 miles that comprises their travel life expectancy, according to Baker.

Although they’re in “pretty good shape,” Amtran is thus discounting them for purposes of fleet size in its effort to expand the fleet, which otherwise comprises compressed natural gas powered buses.

The three diesel hybrids are used only as school trippers, Baker said.

The organization plans to keep them through the current school year.

During the school year, Amtran operates eight tripper routes in the morning and eight in the afternoon.

With the additional buses, the organization could add a “walker” bus, at least during the months of harshest weather, to pick up kids who live within 1.5 miles of their schools, and are thus ineligible for public transportation to get to and fro, Baker said.

“I’d like to pick it back up,” Baker said of the walker bus, adding he feels bad for kids he sees trudging to classes in inclement conditions.

The school district doesn’t pay for the walker bus service, as it does for the regular trippers, Baker said.

Without the trippers, only 14 buses would be needed at peak times, Baker said.

When the additional CNG buses arrive, the organization will need additional space to store all its buses indoors, according to Baker.

That will likely mean construction of a building that would be designed to cover not just current, but future needs, he said.

The likely spot for such construction would be in a grassy area between the Battery Barn and Sixth Avenue, he said.

It would likely be done in the context of a holistic look at the campus and it would almost certainly include additional security measures — perhaps decorative, but effective fencing, he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.