As you’re driving around town, you may have seen all those Go West buses lined up behind Hardee’s. But that will soon be changing. Go West is getting an upgrade.
“This facility is 80-thousand square feet and we’re in it by ourselves,” says Go West Director Jude Kiah. “The facility we’re in now is 10-thousand square feet and we share it with another agency that is a similar size.”
Seven years ago, the bus system received a grant, and plans have been moving ever since.
“We are at substantial completion. We’ve passed that point. We’re now doing punch-list items and we’re adding, like you see here, the phone, computer, those types of things to the building. We’re going to move into this building in the next two to three weeks,” says Kiah.
The new building includes seven maintenance bays, an administrative facility, dispatch centers, and a break room for employees.
This new facility will be able house all 50 Go West buses indoor year round. Another perk of the new transit center is the GPS lighting which can detect the sun wherever it is and will save on energy.
“This is an energy-efficient facility,” says Kiah. “There’s nothing opulent in this facility. Everything here has a use, there’s nothing here that we did that’s too much and we’re quite proud of that.”
The total project cost was $13.5 million, all of which was state and federal grants. An official grand opening is set for April 5th.
