RENO, Nev. (July 6, 2023) – Keolis North America (Keolis), the Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) operating partner for fixed-route bus operations, earned accolades in its annual fleet maintenance audit conducted by the Transit Resource Center (TRC). The audit revealed that the existing fleet has no out-of-service violations and decreased the number of defects - typically caused by wear and tear - by 20 percent compared to a previous audit.
Owned by RTC, fleet and equipment are maintained and operated by Keolis. There are a total of 62 buses in the fleet, including 19 electric zero-emission vehicles and 42 diesel-electric hybrid vehicles. Thirty buses were randomly selected by RTC to be inspected by the third-party auditor.
“The results of this audit should make our entire local Keolis team proud, who prioritize the safety and comfort of our passengers,” said Phil Pumphrey, general manager of Reno operations for Keolis. “Keeping assets in excellent mechanical shape is just one way we add value for our partners, and I’m very glad to see that approach reflected in this audit.”
“This is impressive on several fronts, but what stuck out most to me is that the entire maintenance team clearly bought into a culture of putting out safe and reliable buses,” said Mark Schlador, fleet and facilities manager at the RTC. “This starts at the top with management and supervisors but needs everyone’s cooperation to be successful. The mechanics I worked with on these were truly excited by the end of the day with no out-of-service violations. All I could do was shake hands with everyone there and congratulate them on a job well done.”
Audits are standard in contracted transit operations and are conducted annually to assure safety and reliability for RTC and Keolis passengers.
