title
FY25 Buses and Bus Facilities FTA Grant Application
end
DESCRIPTION: Application for grant funding to expand bus fleet and modernize RTA's bus depot facilities.
AGENDA NO: 25-078
ACTION REQUEST:
? Approval ? Review Comment ? Information Only ? Other
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Ratify the Chief Executive Officer's decision to apply for federal funds not to exceed $27,200,000 under the FY25 FTA Buses and Bus Facilities Grant Program for the expansion of the fixed-route bus fleet and the modernization of the Canal and New Orleans East (ENO) bus depots. The total project amount is estimated at $34,000,000, with a required local match not to exceed $6,800,000. The local match is 20% for both vehicles and facilities.
end
ISSUE/BACKGROUND:
body
RTA is nearing the end of its efforts to overcome the impacts of an aging bus fleet, much of which was acquired in the years following Hurricane Katrina. Of the eighty-one (81) buses purchased between 2007 and 2009, 6 remain in service well beyond their useful life of 12 years, as determined by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Another seven (7) buses are also now well past their useful life for a total of thirteen (13). RTA has secured funding for thirty-seven (37) more buses to be in service by 2028: 8 23-ft small-format buses arriving in 2026, 3 40-ft battery-electric buses arriving in 2026, 6 40-ft clean diesel buses arriving in 2027, and 20 40-ft. battery electric buses arriving in 2028. Furthermore, RTA is in the process of identifying funding for an additional 8 40-ft clean diesel buses. These vehicles will replace the last of the aging fleet and will result in a restored bus fleet from 108 to a minimum of 132 by 2028, still below the 140 vehicles in the bus fleet in 2019, pre-COVID. As the fleet grows, RTA will be positioned to increase service frequency, improve reliability, and accommodate additional ridership growth.
Through the first five (5) months of 2025, RTA bus ridership is on pa...
Click here for full text