Ottawa applies for Capital Assistance Grant for 9 new NCAT vehicles

North Central Area Transit is applying for a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation to get nine new paratransit vehicles to replace those in disrepair.

Ottawa Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut said during Tuesday’s council meeting it’s been difficult to replace buses because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a supply shortage for some of the parts, so there aren’t as many buses being built as there used to be.

The city of Ottawa serves as the administrator for the NCAT system, which services the region.

“We’re repairing buses a lot faster and a lot more often than we had to before,” Eichelkraut said. “Before, when they’d get over 150,000 to 200,000 miles, we’d be really serious about getting rid of them but we can’t get buses in at this time.”

Eichelkraut said these are hard miles, too, because the buses travel all over La Salle County.

NCAT has 31 buses and 58 drivers, and Eichelkraut said the service does a good job taking care of the equipment it has and its maintenance staff has been working hard to keep the buses in running condition.