[Wattleigh]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=2#cxrecs_s

Houston Metro gets $40M in federal funding for cleaner bus fleet

By Sofia Gonzalez – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 26, 2023

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County — commonly called Metro — is once again getting millions of dollars in federal funding to help reach its goal for a cleaner future bus fleet.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration is disbursing nearly $1.7 billion in grants for transit projects around the country to invest in 1,700 buses, with nearly half of those being zero-emission models. The bus grant awards are being made under FTA's Buses and Bus Facilities and Low- and No-Emission Vehicle programs and is the FTA's second grant package funded by the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021.

"Today, we are creating new opportunities to dramatically improve the lives of millions of Americans who ride on buses every day," FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said in a statement. "Thanks to the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these grants will help deliver a cleaner and more modern mode of transportation, designed to reach everyone, and to work for everyone, particularly in places that haven't received enough resources in the past."

Metro is receiving more than $40.4 million to buy 40 compressed natural gas-fueled buses, build a CNG fueling station and modernize a bus maintenance facility. The transit authority plans to shift to purchasing only zero-emission buses by 2030, a result of its first-ever Climate Action Plan.