Bloomington Transit to Improve Paratransit, Microtransit Service

Bloomington Transit (BT) announced it will receive $1,100,000 in Bus Facilities Program funds to support ADA-accessible paratransit/microtransit vehicles and CAD/AVL (Computer-Aided Dispatch/Automatic Vehicle Location) equipment replacement and upgrades. 

BT Projects to be Funded

Six vehicles will be used to maintain paratransit service and enhance the agency’s on-demand offerings.

Microtransit service will improve options for paratransit riders by creating accessible, curb-to-curb transportation without the current 24-hour advance reservation and adding transportation options for the wider Bloomington community.

BT is receiving funding for the complete replacement and upgrade of its CAD/AVL hardware and equipment.

BT’s current system, DoubleMap, has exceeded its useful life, and technical support for the platform from the vendor will be discontinued at the end of 2023.

An upgrade of the hardware, equipment, and associated systems will provide reliable bus-tracking and communication for riders and modernized monitoring features for agency staff.

Source of BT Funds

Bloomington Transit added that it continues to leverage the recently passed local income tax (LIT) funds to fully capitalize on the available federal funds. The 2023 City of Bloomington budget’s $3,806,100 in transit investments are advancing BT's City’s Climate Change Preparedness and Mitigation efforts. 

The total project cost comes in at $1,375,000.

“Bloomington is a growing and thriving city that benefits from Indiana’s best local public transportation system and from our embrace of climate mitigation efforts,” said Mayor John Hamilton. “Our unprecedented local investment in transit continues to leverage more federal funds to strengthen both of these building blocks for our future. I am grateful for Bloomington Transit’s strategic and successful pursuit of federal funds to keep improving our outstanding transportation system and to address the ever-present climate emergency.” 

In 2022, BT was awarded $7 million in federal funds to add eight new electric buses to its fleet, advancing toward its goal of achieving a 60% battery-electric fleet by the year 2030.

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No Emission Program discretionary grant funds in the amount of $7,040,000 were secured for eight zero-emission battery-electric buses (BEB) needed for transit service expansion.

"We will continue to pursue federal funding opportunities that align with BT's bold vision for providing new and innovative transportation options to meet the needs of our community," said John Connell, BT GM.