U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $787 million in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) FY2012 State of Good Repair and Bus Livability funds that will put Americans to work modernizing and replacing aging transit facilities and vehicles to meet the growing demand from millions of riders across the country. This third round of federal funding will support 255 projects in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

FTA received 836 project applications totaling $4 billion in requests. In FY2010 and FY2011, FTA awarded a total of more than $1.8 billion in grants for hundreds of state of good repair projects, primarily involving buses and bus facilities.

Examples of projects selected include:

• New Jersey Transit: $76 million to upgrade its statewide bus fleet, to improve commuting times, improve air quality for state residents and save on fuel by doubling the fleet of fuel-efficient buses. In addition, the state will put new hybrid coach buses on the road to improve the commute to New York City and start a new bus rapid transit service between Camden County and downtown Philadelphia.

• Maryland Department of Transportation: $40 million to replace Baltimore’s 65-year old Kirk Division Bus Facility with two sustainable “green” buildings that will help reduce operating costs, create local construction jobs in Northeast Baltimore, and help more than 350 local transit employees maintain a growing fleet of new, energy-efficient buses that are now serviced elsewhere.

• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority: $15 million to replace aging buses with new buses which will use compressed natural gas. These new buses will improve reliability for riders, leave a smaller environmental footprint and reduce fuel costs.

• Capital Area Transportation Authority in East Lansing, Mich.: $6.3 million to redevelop a former Amtrak station near Michigan State University into the Capital Area Multi-Modal Gateway Project, which will improve bicycle and pedestrian access and connections to local bus and rail service.

• City of Charlotte, N.C.: $4 million to replace Charlotte Area Transit System diesel buses that have met or exceeded their useful lives with new hybrid technology buses that will reduce emissions, save on fuel costs, and reduce long term maintenance costs.

For an interactive map of this year’s projects, click here.

BUSCON:  Want to know more about bus procurement standards? A presentation on this and other hot topics will be featured at the 17^th Annual BusCon Expo, taking place September 11-12 at Chicago’s Navy Pier. Visit www.BusConExpo.com or call (800) 576-8788 for more information.