BOSTON - Underutilization of vehicles and an aging fleet are a few of the maintenance issues pointed out by Harvard students in a study of the City of Boston's 1,074 non-public safety vehicle fleet, reported WCVB.

In addition to under-utilization of vehicles, Harvard students pointed out 65 percent of the city fleet needs to be replaced based on age - citing a 2006 report which indicated only 44 percent of the fleet received preventive maintenance, according to WCVB.

In an effort to improve those figures, Boston has opened what it's calling City Lube -- a quicker, more efficient system for preventive maintenance modeled after commercial facilities.

The city has budgeted $2 million next year to maintain its non-public safety fleet.

Mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty said the city should make major reductions to the number of vehicles and encourage workers to take public transportation instead. He expects doing so would save $1 million in city and taxpayer money, according to WCVB.

The fleet is also looking to deploy GPS to locate vehicles and deploy more efficiently.

Currently, 306 city employees have take-home vehicles:

219 vehicles for public safety personnel.

24 vehicles for public school workers.

20 vehicles for property and construction management workers

20 vehicles for those in public works.

 

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