Section 5309 Bus & Bus Facilities "Ladders of Opportunity" Initiative Project Selections
| Project Sponsor | Location | Project Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities | Juneau, AK | The State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will receive funding to purchase and install up to 15 bus shelters for riders at designated bus stops. The project includes the purchase of pre-fabricated bus shelters and sign posts to anchor each bus shelter to the ground, as well as shipping to the Bethel Transit System, which serves rural and tribal residents in southwest Alaska. | $82,318 |
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Los Angeles, CA | The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) will receive funding to make capital improvements at four bus stops along Cesar Chavez Avenue in the perimeter of the Los Angeles Union Station. The project will include the acquisition of land for a bus pavilion, new bike facilities and emergency safety call boxes, enhanced landscaping and paving, and four new bus shelters equipped with solar-powered lighting and real-time bus data. | $1,668,557 |
| San Diego Metropolitan Transit System | San Diego, CA | The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System will receive funding to purchase a fleet of Gillig buses powered by compressed natural gas, replacing up to 51 older models that have reached the end of their useful life due to age and mileage. The new buses will be friendlier to the environment and ensure that residents of San Diego continue to have reliable access to job and education centers. | $18,054,003 |
| San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency | San Francisco, CA | The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will receive funding to expand its Muni bus service by adding up to twelve motor coaches to targeted lines across San Francisco. This improved bus service will help ease overcrowding and facilitate transit access in some of the city's highest-need areas. SFMTA identified this project as a priority through hundreds of meetings with citizens and community stakeholders. | $8,995,226 |
| Denver Regional Transportation District | Denver, CO | The Denver Regional Transportation District will receive funding to link existing bus routes to nearby Aurora, Colorado. These routes are among the busiest in the nation with over 10,000 daily riders, and will connect residents of an economically diverse corridor with a variety of education and employment opportunities. The new routes will include transit signal priority, queue jumps, and bypass lanes to improve system efficiency, as well as enhanced lighting and bus stop amenities. These funds will also set the stage for a second phase of improvements to the corridor. | $4,999,000 |
| Mesa County | Grand Junction, CO | Mesa County, Colorado, will receive funding to purchase up to four compressed natural gas buses, replacing Grand Valley Transit's existing fleet of diesel buses that will soon reach the end of their useful life. In addition to fuel efficiency gains from this project, the operating service area will benefit from a reduction in transportation-related pollutants. In addition, the project will better allow regional transit authorities to continue to provide reliable, efficient service to major employers, hospitals, and universities. | $432,000 |
| Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority (LYNX) | Orlando, FL | The Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority (known as LYNX) will receive funding to replace up to ten diesel buses with a fleet of compressed natural gas vehicles, and to construct the Pine Hills SuperStop. The new buses will ease overcrowding and capacity issues impacting four major corridor routes that currently serve 22% of Orlando's total transit riders. This new bus transfer center will consolidate bus stops and eliminate the need for pedestrians to cross busy highways in order to transfer lines. Both projects will enhance efficiency for the region's transit network and improve access to Orlando's job centers, particularly for disadvantaged populations. | $9,390,860 |
| Ames Transit Agency | Ames, IA | The Ames Transit Agency (known as CyRide) will receive funding to expand its fleet by up to four articulated buses, adding the vehicles to two of its busiest bus routes in order to address significant growth in recent years. The project will improve access to Iowa State University for Ames' low-income and student populations, and will also connect riders to many other educational institutions, employment centers, and large residential areas. | $2,550,000 |
| Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System (Connect Transit) | Normal, IL | The Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System (known as Connect Transit) will receive funding to purchase up to eight replacement buses, increasing reliability by adding more buses and longer service hours to heavily traveled routes. The project will improve access to the employment and educational centers along those routes. | $2,040,000 |
| Springfield Mass Transit District | Springfield, IL | The Springfield Mass Transit District will receive funding to purchase new buses, including more environmentally-friendly Compressed Natural Gas buses, to expand service to a portion of Springfield which has seen dramatic housing and employment growth. The project will result in new bus routes connecting residents of a densely populated neighborhood in Springfield to local colleges and universities as well as small and major businesses in surrounding areas. | $762,400 |
| Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri | Reservation, KS & NE | The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri will receive funding to establish new transit service on their tribal reservation, located in northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska. The funds will be used to purchase on-demand passenger vans that will connect the reservation's residents to important destinations like grocery stores, medical centers, and employment opportunities, none of which are accessible by existing transit options. | $66,308 |
| Transit Authority of River City | Louisville, KY & IN | The Transit Authority of River City (TARC), serving residents of Louisville, Kentucky, as well as southern Indiana, will receive funding to replace a fleet of aging buses that have exceeded their useful lives. The project will improve access and reliability on bus lines across TARC's service area, much of which is used to connect low-income neighborhoods in western Louisville to the city's central business district, including major employers in the finance and health industries. | $8,700,000 |
| City of Detroit Department of Transportation | Detroit, MI | The Detroit Department of Transportation will receive funding to purchase up to 50 new hybrid and clean diesel buses that will ease overcrowding, reduce wait times, and provide more accessible and reliable service for a highly transit-dependent population. The new buses will provide an essential link to connect riders to jobs, education, training and other opportunities along Woodward Avenue—one of the city's busiest commercial corridors—the Central Business District, and throughout the City of Detroit. | $25,925,548 |
| Metropolitan Council - Metro Transit | Minneapolis, MN | Metro Transit, serving the Twin Cities in Minnesota, will receive funding to improve, replace, and construct bus facilities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, particularly focused on areas of high poverty and high dependence on transit. The focus will be on bus stop improvements to ensure safe, quality facilities in disadvantaged areas. The project will result in new customer waiting shelters, addition of heat and light to existing shelters, improved transit information, and pedestrian connections. In addition, partnerships with local schools and training centers will better connect residents to education and employment opportunities. | $3,260,000 |
| Kansas City Area Transportation Authority | Kansas City, MO | The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) will receive funding to enhance transit-related amenities in the Prospect Avenue corridor, one of the busiest transit corridors in the region. The project will renovate curbs, sidewalks, benches, and shelters, make other improvements to increase convenience for pedestrians and those with mobility issues. In addition to facilitating access to new developments along Prospect Avenue, the project will better connect riders to major employers and medical centers in the Central Business District. | $1,200,000 |
| City of Lincoln, Nebraska | Lincoln, NE | The City of Lincoln, Nebraska, will receive funding to purchase new buses and trolleys powered by compressed natural gas to replace older vehicles at the end of their useful life, improving service on both the Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) route and the downtown circulator route used primarily by low-income riders. The project will support continued revitalization of the city's downtown, enhance job access for low-income communities, and support expanded economic opportunities within the city. A portion of the funds will also be used to purchase a bus driving simulator to improve driver training. | $2,014,496 |
| Oklahoma Department of Transportation | Oklahoma City, OK | The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will receive funding to replace aging transit vehicles operated by ten rural transit systems across the state. The project will further develop established programs in these areas to link riders to employment opportunities, enhancing access to jobs by creating transportation choices and supporting the communities in which they live and work. | $4,082,400 |
| Oregon Department of Transportation - Douglas County | Douglas County, OR | The Douglas County UTrans system in southwest Oregon will receive funding to purchase new buses to both maintain and expand transit services. The project will add much-needed capacity to the county's transit system, increasing access to major employers in the region and improving the reliability and convenience of key bus lines. | $576,000 |
| Oregon Department of Transportation - Lake County | Lake County, OR | Lake County, through the Oregon Department of Transportation, will receive funding to purchase disabled-accessible vans to provide transportation to and from more rural areas that do not currently receive adequate service in south-central Oregon. The project will increase access to job training, employment, and education centers for isolated rural residents. | $105,400 |
| Lane Transit District | Eugene, OR | The Lane Transit District of Eugene, Oregon, will receive funding to replace up to eleven aging paratransit vehicles, and to purchase and install surveillance cameras on the entire paratransit fleet. The project will maintain the reliability of a system that serves disadvantaged populations who rely on reliable paratransit service to access jobs and other opportunities. Community partnerships will include linkages with workforce training centers and organizations that provide services for veterans. In addition, the new on-board surveillance cameras will enhance the efficiency of the system as well as the safety of drivers and passengers. | $1,064,145 |
| The Fort Worth Transportation Authority | Fort Worth, TX | The Fort Worth Transportation Authority (known as "the T") will receive funding to purchase up to 19 vehicles and enhance current technology on behalf of Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth (CCDFW), the primary provider of transit in the surrounding areas of Forth Worth that are not served by The T. The project will replace CCDFW's aging fleet and upgrade its transportation software system, increasing service reliability and efficiency and connecting more of Tarrant County's low-income residents with higher-paying jobs and regional economic opportunities. | $1,162,078 |
| Texarkana Urban Transit District | Texarkana, TX & AR | The Texarkana Urban Transit District will receive funding to purchase up to eight new transit coaches to serve the Texarkana metropolitan area in northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas. The new coaches will replace smaller, older paratransit vehicles that are inadequate for the region's current needs. The project will significantly improve the ability of low income and transit dependent individuals in the region to access employment opportunities by expanding the area served and reaching new residential and commercial areas. | $1,200,000 |
| Muckleshoot Indian Tribe | Auburn, WA | The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe will receive funding to establish a new transit system. Residents of the Muckleshoot Reservation, located mostly in King County, Washington, about 35 miles southeast of Seattle, have long endured high unemployment and difficulty accessing job and educational opportunities in the region. The project will connect the reservation to local colleges, libraries, and medical centers, as well as major employers such as casinos and shopping centers. | $194,262 |
| Washington State Department of Transportation | WA | The Mason Transit Authority of Mason County, Washington, will receive funding to repurpose a former National Guard Armory as a hub for transit and community development. The project will link transit administration and services to on-site job training, educational opportunities, athletic facilities, and other benefits for the community. Space for private-sector investment will also provide opportunities for employment and training. | $1,474,999 |
| TOTAL | $100,000,000 | ||
Last updated: Monday, October 26, 2015