Texas Transit Association

Board picks colors for buses
By Bob Campbell, Odessa American, July 13, 2003

The Midland-Odessa Urban Transit District’s new twin cities’ bus system is still on track to run its first routes in early October, and the MOUTD Board met Wednesday to OK the 16-passenger “EZ Rider” buses’ color scheme — white with reddish orange and blue striping and lettering.
The “EZ” will be reddish orange and the “Rider” blue, said MOUTD Chairman Robert Muñoz Thursday.
“This came out of a study funded by the Hext Family Foundation three years ago that said transportation was the No. 1 need in Odessa,” said Muñoz, dean of continuing education at Odessa College.
“It’ll meet the needs of people who don’t have the luxury of a car or always have a dependable vehicle.
“It will also help in their transition from welfare to work, giving them less reason that they can’t work.”
The board has authorized an $80,000 to $100,000 expenditure for Permian Construction of Midland to remodel a former boat repair shop at 8007 E. Highway 80 for a headquarters building by Sept. 1.
Odessa’s central transfer station will be at Fifth Street and Lincoln Avenue, and five routes have been tentatively approved with the final OKs to come from the Odessa City Council and transit board. Midland will have six routes.
Financed by $5,320,338 from the Federal Transit Administration, the state and cities, the district is spending $1.6 million for 19 El Dorado Aerotech 240 buses from Lasseter Bus & Mobility Co. of Lewisville.
The extra low-sulphur diesel-using buses will be delivered beginning in late August.
The FTA is providing $3,548,169 to be spent during the next three years and the state $500,000 that must be expended by Aug. 31.
The cities have made a $1,272,169 commitment that officials say won’t require a tax increase.
Thirty-one drivers, six maintenance men, two clerks and an administrative assistant to General Manager Ken Smithson will be hired starting in August with applications taken in the cities’ personnel offices.
Officing temporarily at Odessa City Hall, Smithson came here two weeks ago from Texarkana, where he played a similar role for contractor McDonald Transit Associates.
He said benches, lights and shelters will be installed for passengers’ transfer centers in downtown Odessa, next to Ector County Library and at Texas Avenue and Baird Street in Midland.
Each operation will have two buses for handicapped people and two spares.
An Odessa-Midland route isn’t being offered, but officials expect one eventually to be established.
Based in Fort Worth, McDonald also runs buses in Abilene, Lubbock, Denton, Longview, Fort Worth and 14 cities in other states.