Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) says its board of trustees have approved purchasing 19 new buses for the district’s fleet.

Eight of the buses will be diesel-electric hybrid models, while the remainder will take compressed natural gas.

“One of the best ways we can provide excellent service to our community is by keeping our bus fleet in a state of good repair,” said SMTD Managing Director Steve Schoeffel, in a news release. “These new buses will replace buses from 2013 and 2014 and will maintain that state of good repair through the rest of this decade.”

According to SMTD, “state of good repair” means “buses operating in service are within the manufacturer’s suggested ‘useful life’, which most recently has been defined as twelve years or over five hundred thousand miles.”  They say the district’s fleet usually reach 500,000  miles before the twelve year mark.

The buses, as transit districts all over the country are making similar purchases, will take roughly twelve to eighteen months to be delivered.

The compressed natural gas buses will cost $760,000 each, while the hybrid buses will cost more than $1 million each.  Federal grant funds will help pay for the purchase.