The PPA Is Immediately Buying $300K Worth of Snow-Removing Bobcats

The PPA will purchase smaller front-end loaders to assist with the snow removal effort. | Photo by Dan McQuade

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story erroneously overstated the cost of Bobcat front-end loaders and the total amount the PPA was spending on them. Philadelphia magazine apologizes for the error.  

The Philadelphia Parking Authority approved an emergency resolution Tuesday afternoon to throw a little more of its own muscle at clearing the city’s streets.

The resolution, passed at the PPA board’s regular monthly meeting, authorizes the immediate purchase of six Bobcat front-end loaders to clear snow from city streets at a cost of $50,000 per vehicle.

The Bobcats will join a fleet of 21 PPA-owned vehicles that have been largely clearing streets too narrow for city plows or contractors’ trucks to negotiate. Most of the snow-removal vehicles currently in the PPA’s fleet are plow-equipped pickup trucks.

“We have been working in cooperation with Mayor Jim Kenney to assist the city in its massive snow removal effort,” said PPA Chairman Vince Fenerty in a news release announcing the decision. “As of noon today, we have cleared over 435 city blocks.”

“We will continue to assist the city with its snow removal effort for as long as we are needed.”

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