Metro Area Transit builds new facility
As winter gets closer, students have begun to prepare for the cold weather that lies ahead.
Taking a leisurely walk to campus isn’t as enjoyable as it was in the nice fall weather, and some students can look forward to scraping their car windshield every morning before school.
The Metro Area Transit, commonly referred to as the MAT bus system, wants to prevent students from going through the trouble of warming up their car or worrying that it won’t start.
MAT buses offer transportation to students who live on and around NDSU property. Bus routes also run from the main campus to the downtown campus.
According to the city of Fargo’s Web site, MAT built a brand new garage designated to consolidate bus maintenance operations and improve service to the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Mike Simonson, transit planner for the city of Fargo, said building started two years ago but, the project has been worked on for about 10 years.
Most of the funding for the new garage came from the Federal Transit Administration because it’s a transit facility, Simonson said. Eighty percent of the cost came from the FTA, while the other 20 percent came locally.
Because MAT is a city department, taxes that go into the general fund, from both Fargo and Moorhead, also go toward the MAT, Simonson said.
Many of the garage features are environmentally friendly and efficient.
The garage includes areas for overnight storage of buses, service and repair, fueling and washing, according to the cityoffargo.com.
Renewable energy features of the building include a recycling system for water used to wash the buses, oil recycling and a high-performance glaze on the sides of the building will save on the costs of heating and cooling.
Simonson said the building also contained “a new roof that is designed to accommodate solar panels, which may help generate energy.”
More of the building’s features that were explained on the city of Fargo’s Web site included enhanced security.
The features include security cards necessary for entering the building, 24-hour surveillance and posts surrounding the building that aim to prevent vehicles from striking the building.
“ When you think of a garage it’s actually misleading because really it’s a high-tech facility,” Simonson said. “The building cost $7.5 million and covers 50,860 square feet, which means it spans over two blocks long and one block wide.”
Simonson said although the facility has extra amenities like a paint room and enhanced mechanics to aid in convenience, one of his favorite features is the lighting.
“ The lighting in the building is practically like daylight,” Simonson said. “When the drivers examine the buses before they go out for the day, it helps them see a lot more than the dim lighting in the old buildings.”
Another aspect that Simonson said adds the most convenience is the converging of the Moorhead and Fargo buildings.
“ Before there were two chains of command,” Simonson said. “Moorhead had its own building and so did Fargo. Now all 50 buses are housed in one building and we have simplified to following one set of guidelines.”
The building was designed by EARC, an architecture firm from Fargo and Grand Forks, Simonson said.
According to matbus.com, buses 31 and 32 are called NDSU Circulators and only run on days NDSU has school.
Buses 13A and 13B also go through campus, with a bus stopping at the Union every 15 minutes.
The new facility is found at 650 23rd St. N in Fargo. and MAT will relocate its administrative offices to NP Avenue.
MAT plans to host an open house sometime next year, which will include public tours of the building.