The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the availability of $11 million in a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Accelerating Innovative Mobility (AIM) Challenge Grants. The Public Transportation Innovation funds are to support innovation throughout the transit industry by promoting forward-thinking approaches to improve transit system design, service, and financing. FTA is seeking to fund cooperative agreements to eligible recipients for projects that can accelerate the development, implementation and adoption of innovative technologies, practices, and service models to improve mobility and enhance the rider experience, with a focus on innovative service delivery models, creative financing, novel partnerships, and integrated payment solutions. FTA intends to award multiple AIM Challenge Grants under this announcement.
Synopses and full announcement are posted on Grants.gov site as opportunity FTA-2020-012-TRI-AIM. Proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov website by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on April 17, 2020.
The FTA provides this funding opportunity based on the traditional challenge grant concept of achieving specific innovation goals and using that achievement to spotlight a grantee (i.e., AIM Incubators) and disseminate proven innovative mobility practices in the public transportation industry. The primary objectives of the AIM Challenge Grants are to:
- Explore and validate forward-thinking approaches to improve transit system design, service, and financing.
- Provide funding to transit agencies in all types of communities—urban, suburban, rural— to identify, test, and prove out new approaches, technologies and service models.
- Establish a national network of public transportation stakeholders that are incorporating innovative approaches and business models to improve mobility and that will share their project results.
- Identify and promote the most promising and effective innovations that can be implemented more broadly through FTA’s capital programs.
For the complete release, details click here.