Safety is a priority when you're serving the public.
When your work centers on transporting the public, ensuring safe vehicles becomes essential.
For the Transit Authority of Warren County, keeping vehicles in safe condition isn't just a priority, it's a requirement.
To meet the standards for safe public transport, authority buses require a 45 point inspection done by a certified inspector at an approved inspection facility.
The authority has been contracting this inspection out to R&W Truck Service in Starbrick, but since the authority's building expansion project in 2010, they've been working to change that.
"We have had no negative experiences with R&W," Authority Director John Aldrich said. "We just have our own facilities we should be utilizing. It was one of our original plans when we did the building project to put in a garage capable of handling inspections."
According to Aldrich's report to boardmembers at their Sept. 20 meeting, the authority moved one step closer to this goal following a recent PennDOT visit. A representative of PennDOT looked over the authority's garage facility and agreed it should meet certification requirements for an official inspection station.
To qualify as an inspection station, a facility must meet the general criteria for an official inspection station, including requirements regarding certification and signs, inspection areas, tools and equipment, hours and personnel.
The authority is already working to ensure their mechanic has a valid inspection license for medium and heavy trucks and buses.
"It'll save us a little bit of money and a lot of time," Aldrich noted. "It will reduce the amount of time our vehicles are out of service."