Maryland MTA to purchase hybrid vehicles

The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) received an $8.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). The bulk of the funding will be used to replace aging buses in the MTA fleet.

The funds are the result of a successful grant application to the U.S. DOT's national "State of Good Repair" project to upgrade bus fleets in transition. The MTA received $8 million for bus replacement and $411,500 for street improvements in southeast Baltimore.

MTA began converting its 708 bus fleet to all hybrids in 2008. Currently there are 193 electric-diesel hybrid buses in service. Fifty-seven new hybrid buses are scheduled to arrive between October 2011 and March 2012. The agency plans to have an all hybrid fleet by 2018.

A smaller grant of $411,500 received by the MTA will be used by the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDT) to make pedestrian improvements along Eastern Avenue in southeast Baltimore.