Obama Administration to Award $775M for Bus Transit Upgrades

The Obama administration plans to award $775 million in bus transit grants this summer, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff announced yesterday during a transit industry conference in Ohio.

610x_1.jpgFederal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff (in hard hat) (Photo: WaPo)

The bus grants are aimed at shoring up aging equipment and helping cash-strapped localities modernize their systems. Instructions for application will be released tomorrow in the Federal Register, with bids due by next month.

"The Obama administration is making
these funds available to ensure that financially strapped transit
providers can keep buses rolling and serving the public during these
difficult economic times,” Rogoff said in a statement released by the FTA today.

The $775 million comes from already-appropriated but unallocated federal bus funding, meaning that no new act of Congress will be required to release the money.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Bids For Federal Streetcar Aid Top Available Money by Nearly Tenfold

|
After announcing $130 million in new streetcar grants in December, the Obama administration received more than $1.1 billion in applications, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff told lawmakers today — offering more evidence of the growing local enthusiasm for competitive transportation funding that began with the stimulus law’s TIGER grant program. New Orleans, above, […]

U.S. DOT Names the Transit Projects Set for Federal Funding

|
The Obama administration last night revealed the names of local transit projects getting recommendations for federal aid under the U.S. DOT’s New and Small Starts programs, which are set to receive $1.8 billion during fiscal year 2011. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff, in hard hat at the groundbreaking of New Jersey’s rail tunnel. […]

LaHood Reaches Out to Transit Industry, Lamenting ‘Lousy Economy’

|
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sought to commiserate with the cash-strapped transit industry today, declaring the Obama administration an ally of local rail and bus agencies even as the "lousy economy" clouds prospects for passage of a new long-term federal transportation bill. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: Getty Images) In an address to the American Public […]

Obama Aide Defends Transit Safety Plan as Different from Rail Rules

|
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff today mounted a defense of the White House’s transit safety plan, assuring some skeptical members of Congress that he does not want to "replicate" inter-city rail safety rules that have taken flak for impeding the development of viable U.S. train networks. As of last year, D.C.’s Metro had […]

Obama Administration Pushes for Transit Maintenance

|
In a press conference today sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association, Obama administration officials affirmed their commitment to transit, especially good maintenance of transit systems. As FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff told reporters: We have a challenge in that we want to provide the American public, in a maximum number of communities, with real transit […]

Feds Announce Winners of $293 Million in Transit Grants

|
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FTA chief Peter Rogoff announced the winners of $293 million in competitive grants for bus and streetcar projects today. The biggest chunks of funding will help build streetcar projects in Cincinnati, Charlotte, Fort Worth, and St. Louis, as well as rapid bus corridors in New York and Chicago. All told, […]