Saving Money for Taxpayers

The same features that make Bobcat® machines the leading compact equipment choice in the private sector-amazing versatility, high productivity and rugged durability-also make them the perfect choice when it comes to saving money for taxpayers in the public sector.

Bobcat offers more different types, models and sizes of compact machines than any manufacturer. The key to their money-saving performance is the industry's largest selection of attachments, more than 70 in all. The many choices, plus the ability to work quickly and efficiently in limited access areas, mean that one operator can often replace several workers, not to mention larger, more costly equipment, in a broad range of municipal and other agency jobs.

In addition, Bobcat operator training materials provide consistent, easy-to-use instructions to make learning to operate the machine as easy as possible.

As supervisors with various local governments and departments report, the speed, maneuverability and ease of operating Bobcat equipment pays off all year long-whether planting trees in the spring, constructing ball fields in the summer, repairing streets in the fall or clearing snow from sidewalks in the winter.

City of Clive, Iowa

Parks and playgrounds

The Parks and Recreation Depart-ment of the City of Clive, Iowa, has been using Bobcat® equipment since 1997. Two years ago, Jeff Thielen, park maintenance supervisor, added a ToolcatTM 5600 utility work machine to his list of Bobcat equipment, which includes a 773 skid-steer loader and five attachments-angle broom, auger, combination bucket, pallet fork and snowblower. The skid-steer loader is used for dirt work on landscaping projects and for handling palletized items such as fertilizer and ballfield material.

The Toolcat 5600 handles most of the other jobs. One of those is taking care of the 12 miles of paved bike trails which run the length of this Des Moines suburb. The utility work machine is used with a bucket for dressing up the sides of trails following asphalt repairs and with the pallet fork for moving downed trees following windstorms. In the fall, it's equipped with an angle broom to brush away leaves. In winter, the 5600 and a snowblower attachment clear the trails of snow.

The all-wheel steering of the Toolcat machine makes it much more maneuverable than a pickup truck in tight areas, such as around playground equipment, Thielen reports.

"We use the 5600 with the auger for drilling holes to plant trees and to dig footings for playground equipment," he says. "It's great for hauling concrete when building edges around playgrounds and for carrying and placing wood chips around trees. We also use it to transport fencing materials to jobsites."

The Toolcat unit is used with the pallet fork to unload supplies and materials from trucks, and at times is teamed up with the loader. For instance, the skid-steer machine loads clay aggregate into the cargo box of the 5600, which then carries it out to ball fields where it dumps the material.

"Of all our equipment, the Toolcat 5600 is our most versatile machine," Thielen says. "We've put almost 900 hours on it in less than two years."

Road repairs and maintenance

Earlier this year Roger Dye, Service Department foreman for the City of Brecksville, Ohio, added a Bobcat® A300 all-wheel steer loader to his equipment fleet. It took the place of the department's 863 skid-steer loader which has been reassigned to the horticulture department for landscaping work.

Bobcat A300 Loader

Equipped with high-flow hydraulics, the A300 can be used either as a turf- and pavement-friendly all-wheel steer loader simply by pressing a switch in the cab or as an agile skid-steer loader. "We bought the machine to minimize tire marks when turning on fresh asphalt or on turf," Dye says.

One of the A300's primary duties is using the wheel saw and planer attachments to repair asphalt streets. "This equipment is a lot easier and faster than using a jackhammer to break up the asphalt," Dye says.

The A300 is also used for grounds maintenance and roadside landscaping jobs. In these cases, a pallet fork is used to unload and transport small trees and an auger is used to drill holes for planting trees and placing fence posts. A tiller makes easy work of breaking up ground for seeding jobs.

The Bobcat high-flow snowblower attachment is ideal for clearing snow in cul-de-sacs, Dye notes. "Unlike a large front-end loader, the snowblower attachment lets you direct the snow to prevent burying mail boxes and driveway entrances," he says. "We also use it to widen the cleared roadway when snow builds up along the edge of the street."

No matter what the season, the Bobcat equipment helps his crew save time and labor. "Sometimes, we may only use the machine once or twice a week," Dye says. "Other times, we use it every day."

Airport applications

Positioning itself as a convenient alternative to Chicago's busy O'Hare International Airport, the Chicago/Rockford International Airport (RFD) in Rockford, Ill., has embarked on an ambitious program to increase passenger traffic. The ability of its Bobcat® compact equipment to efficiently handle a variety of work to help airport facilities keep pace with the additional business is a key part of the airport's growth plans.

In the past four years, the Chicago/Rockford International Airport has risen from 630th in the nation in terms of number of passengers to 224th last year. Airport officials have their eyes set on making the top 150 list in four more years.

Matt Zinke, one of the airport's operations and facilities supervisors, is in charge of construction and maintenance work for everything from repairing runways to installing security fences. He and his crews rely on the power and compact size of a Bobcat S250 skid-steer loader and half a dozen Bobcat attachments to finish work faster and easier when other equipment is too big.

"Without this compact equipment, we'd have to do a lot of work by hand," he says.

For example, Zinke uses large snow removal equipment, such as high-speed brooms and plow trucks to clear taxiways and runways. But for working in the tight spaces around the terminal, his crews use the S250 with a Bobcat snow blade and snow bucket.

Last year the airport expanded the number of jetways from one to three. "We can't get big machines around them to clear snow," Zinke says. "The Bobcat equipment is much more maneuverable than trying to use a pickup truck with a plow. The S250 saves us a lot of labor. We also use it on the airfield to clear paths through the snow for repairing runway lights or electrical cables."

The enclosed cab with heater and air conditioning helps keep operators comfortable and productive both winter and summer.

Bobcat S250 Loader

Equipped with other Bobcat attachments, the skid-steer loader does a wide range of jobs, including using a trencher to install power cables, an auger for drilling postholes, and a grader for maintaining gravel service roads in remote areas of the airport. The loader and grader were also used around the airport's perimeter fencing, filling in voids between the bottom of the fence and the ground.

The lift height and reach of the S250 makes it easy to load trucks with dirt and concrete debris. "It's large enough to do that work and small enough to maneuver quickly in tight areas," Zinke says.

The hydraulic Power BobTachTM system allows operators to switch between standard attachments without leaving the cab. Another time-saver is two-speed travel. The 12-mph high-range speed shortens travel time when hauling and transporting materials relatively long distances between one part of the airfield and another.