Obama Administration to Award $775M for Bus Transit Upgrades

by Elana Schor

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.