Biden administration investing $1.5B in clean buses

The Biden administration announced Thursday it will invest $1.5 billion in transit manufacturing, including zero-emission buses.

The White House announced it met with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to discuss building clean transit buses and how the government can manufacture them at the “scale and pace needed to meet market demand and achieve national climate and equity goals.”

About 60 representatives met Wednesday from various U.S. transit agencies, bus manufacturing companies and other stakeholders to discuss President Biden’s Investing in America plan, the announcement said.

Biden signed a massive, bipartisan infrastructure bill into law in November 2021.

The $1.5 billion for clean transit is “crucial in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the largest emitting sector, transportation.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the investment, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law, will bring thousands of new buses to communities across the country.

“More funding for buses means less traffic congestion on the road, less pollution in the air, and more jobs for American workers,” Buttigieg said in a statement.

The FTA has a grant program that allows transit agencies to buy and rehabilitate older buses and facilities.

Of the total amount in the fund, $1.1 billion will go to the administration’s Low- or No-Emission Grant Program, which allows transit agencies to buy or lease zero-emission buses. $390 million of the fund will go to grants for buses and bus facilities, the Department of Transportation said.

FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said the funding will help cut pollution and promote cleaner, faster and safer bus riding experiences.

“FTA is also providing solutions to reduce bus costs, shorten production timelines, and maintain domestic manufacturing capacity as transit agencies procure buses,” Fernandez said in a statement.