MCAT awarded $1.9 million federal grant for bus fleet rehabilitation

MCAT awarded $1.9 million federal grant for bus fleet rehabilitation
Posted on 04/12/2018
MANATEE COUNTY, FL (April 12, 2018) – Manatee County Area Transit is the recipient of a $1.9 million grant for buses and trolleys U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently announced.

The grant will go to extend the life of MCAT's fleet. A total of 139 projects in 52 states and territories will receive $264 million in funding from FTA’s Discretionary Buses and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program. The grants fund projects to replace, rehabilitate and purchase buses and related equipment as well as projects to purchase, rehabilitate and construct bus-related facilities.

“The combined efforts of staff from Public Works/Transit and Fleet divisions produced a strong and convincing case for discretionary FTA funding," said Transit Division Manager Bill Steele. "This award of FTA discretionary funding for the rehabilitation of Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT) buses is validation that the Transit and Fleet teams are committed to pursuing discretionary federal funding and developing competitive grant applications that not only meet very strict selection criteria, but are also scalable."

Requests for FTA’s Buses and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program far exceeded available funds, as FTA received applications for eligible projects totaling approximately $2 billion in funding requests. Project proposals are evaluated on select criteria with an emphasis on achieving “state of good repair” status for buses and bus facilities.

"This hard working, dedicated and very capable team continually strive to improve the transit bus fleet and service delivery operations, develop new and innovative services, and leverage technology to improve the rider experience, including the recent introduction of mobile ticketing," Steele said. "Special thanks to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, county administration, and the Public Works department leadership for their ongoing support for these endeavors.”

For more information on Manatee County Area Transit visit www.mymanatee.org/mcat or call (941) 749-7116.

For more information on Manatee County Government, visit online at www.mymanatee.org or call (941) 748-4501. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/manatee.county.fl and on Twitter, @ManateeGov.