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Some great news for transit this week! 
FAST Bill Update-CASTA WIN!
As with many transportation stake holders around the US, CASTA staff held it's collective breath as the US House and Senate debated and finally passed the FAST transportation bill late 2015.  

CASTA had three top priorities for the Federal transportation re-authorization bill:
  1. increased funding for Bus and Bus facility
  2. protect ability to flex STP funds to transit 
  3. make BRT requirements more appropriate for Colorado transit needs
We are pleased to note that the final FAST bill included increased bus and bus facility funding, protected the ability to flex STP funds and two out of three of the BRT requirements we wanted to see!  

Thanks to all of you who made phone calls when asked, visited DC, gave CASTA staff statistics, loaned us your agency's federal lobbyist, and all the other ways CASTA members participated in the process. Although the bill doesn't solve all our problems, it is a step forward for transit in Colorado.

As the bill is implemented CASTA staff will follow rule-making activities and look for new funding opportunities as a result of some of the additional program funding.

If you're interested in learning more about the bill as a whole read Transportation For America's blog post on the FAST Bill, we've found it to be a helpful summary of the new bill. 

Seeking Older Low Floor Buses Looking for a Second Career as Training Vehicles
  Greeley Evans Transit is need of old 35 or 40' HD Low Floor buses for training.  As we are shifting our fixed route buses from Body on Chassis to low floor and will be receiving our first new buses in June we are wanting to start training drivers on the driving differences  between the types.  Therefore, we are interested in any old buses that only need to run for training purposes for a short period of time.  Please contact Will Jones at 970-350-9751 if you have any coming up in the next 6 months.
Thank you for all you do for transit
riders around the country!
The CASTA Crew