Harris County Transit Launches On-Demand Transportation
HOUSTON -- (July 6, 2021) -- Harris County Transit Plus begins its inaugural on-demand transport service today for residents living in the Generation Park-area of Precincts 1, 2 and 4. This affordable service allows residents to schedule transportation from point A to point B, within two established zones, running along the Northeast quadrant of Beltway 8. The service provides a faster trip and enhanced passenger experience through areas of the county that are less densely developed. Read More
SWTA Nation Recipients Receive 14% of All Low/No Bus Program Funds
Nine recipients across the SWTA Nation received a total of more than $28 million in grant investment through the Federal Transit Administration's FY 2021 Low or No-Emission (Low-No) Bus Program, announced on June 25th. A total of $182 million was awarded under. See more in our federal update below and the full list of project recipients here.
NCRTD ‘Blue Buses’ Operate At Full Capacity
Upon the re-opening of the State of New Mexico, RTD Blue Buses eliminated capacity restrictions effective Tuesday, July 6. Additionally, reservations will no longer be mandatory on routes previously requiring them. Read More
Rock Region METRO Awarded Agency’s Largest-Ever FTA Competitive Grant for Buses
Rock Region METRO was awarded $3,570,000 in Federal Transit Administration funds to purchase seven compressed natural gas buses slated to join the METRO fleet in 2020. This is the largest FTA competitive grant for bus and bus facilities METRO has received. Read more
Earmarks could bring $16M for Fort Worth area projects in House infrastructure bill
Around $16 million in federal money could go toward Fort Worth area projects because to earmarking, a practice recently revived after years of it being banned. The U.S. House passed an infrastructure bill recently that includes funding for Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey's earmarked projects in Fort Worth. Veasey's projects include new lights for Dallas Area Rapid Transit and money for the TRE Trinity Lakes Station and Trinity Metro's Grove Street building. Read More
SWTA Attends SPARTAN Facility Opening in Leveland, TX
SWTA Executive Director Rich Sampson joined member SPARTAN Transportation in South Plains, Texas, for the opening of their new maintenance facility on June 29th, along with representatives from several nearby urban & rural transit systems. FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez offered remarks by video and CTAA Executive Director Scott Bogren also attended in-person.
Transit News from Across the SWTA Nation
Capital Area Rural Transportation System, Capital Metro begin service out of new bus hub in East Austin (CommunityImpact.com)
Valley Metro launches new transit app with real time rides and navigation (KTAR News)
Texas Transportation Commission Approves Most Funding in Its History for Transit (Roads & Bridges)
First Step of Havasu's (AZ) New Transit Plan Launching (Havasau News)
Tyler Transit to offer UT Tyler, TJC students and staff free rides (CBS 19 News)
Three Challenges Facing Transit Agencies Emerging From the Pandemic (Transit Center)
Contactless payments are more than a COVID response for public transit (Smart Cities Dive)
Public Transit Is a Public Good. It’s Time to Fund It That Way. (Mother Jones)
SWTA Nation Job Postings
Program Manager, People Development - Capital METRO
Rail Community Relations Lead - VALLEY METRO
Technical Program/Project Manager III - Capital METRO
Events in the nation's capital continue to move quickly for legislation impacting transit systems. The House of Representatives passed its version of a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill on July 1 – the INVEST Act. Only two Republicans joined the majority Democrats to approve the legislation, which historically sees strong bipartisan support, a signal of the inability of Congress to work in a bipartisan manner on most legislative actions.
The bill (full text is available here, with transit funding provisions beginning on page 776) includes substantial increases in transit funding compared to its predecessor, the FAST Act. In total, it authorizes $109 billion in investment for public transportation and $100 billion for commuter rail, Amtrak, and other high-performance rail. Reactions & analysis of the bill are available from APTA & CTAA.
How the measure fares in the Senate is a different story, with the Environment & Public Works committee having already passed a reauthorization highway title and the Banking committee working on the transit component, hopefully before August recess. How those measures relate to the House-passed version as well as the bipartisan infrastructure effort pushed by the Biden Administration and a handful of senators remains to be seen. Read on the uncertain path for reauthorization legislaton from Politico.
In other news, July 1 also saw Nuria Fernandez sworn in by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) [see photo above right].
Also, as noted above, FTA's Low or No-Emissions grant program awarded grants to Rock Region METRO, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (AZ), the cities of Fort Collins (CO), Lawrence (KS) and Norman (OK), the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, New Mexico Department of Transportation and Austin's Capital Metro. In all, FTA received 187 eligible applications requesting $917 million – far outpacing the available $182 million. Billions in additional funding for zero-emissions vehicles is included in both the INVEST Act and the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
Finally, (FTA) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $16.3 million in competitive grant funding for projects that help lift communities out of poverty by supporting transit service improvements in underserved communities,
UPCOMING EVENTS FROM STATE & NATIONAL TRANSIT ASSOCIATIONS
