The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) say the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has received an $11.9 million Bus & Bus Facilities discretionary grant.
With this grant, the JTA will take eight diesel buses that have met FTA’s Useful Life standards out of service and replace them with eight new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. Not only does this assist in JTA’s bus replacement schedule, but it directly supports JTA’s sustainability effort by eliminating diesel buses that emit higher CO2 emissions.
The new CNG buses are part of a larger project that proposes to rehabilitate and upgrade some of the most pressing state of good repair needs at the JTA’s Myrtle Avenue Operations Campus. This includes the replacement of mobile column lifts for bus repairs; the replacement and upgrade of 21 bay doors from manual to electric; the rehabilitation of the bus wash facilities, including upgrades for waste, oil and plumbing systems; the replacement of exhaust fans, generators, HVAC and other maintenance and facilitates needs.
This project is in line with the administration goal of placing federal investment in areas to stimulate economic development and job creation by incentivizing long-term investments in low-income and underserved neighborhoods.
