Wausau Transit Commission approves vehicle purchases, adds summer school trip and names vice chair

The Wausau Transit Commission voted unanimously to buy two 2025 Ford Explorers for supervisor use and to replace portions of the paratransit fleet with two 2025 T350 high‑roof vans and one 2025 E450 cutaway van, and approved adding a second morning summer school trip on the East route. The commission also unanimously named Carol as vice chair at the meeting.

Commission chair said the purchases will use CARES Act funds that the Federal Transit Administration has approved for these uses. Transit staff said the CARES allocation available to the commission was “just shy of a million dollars,” that the commission “pulled $500,000 toward operations” and proposed using roughly $400,000 to replace vehicles, including the supervisor SUVs and the transit vans. Transit staff told the commission the Ford Explorers shown in the packet cost $39,658.40 each.

The votes mark a move to replace aging vehicles the commission described as beyond their useful life or in poor condition. Transit staff said the supervisor vehicles date from 2006…