The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday awarded grants to help marginalized communities across the country. Approximately $16.2 million will fund 40 projects in 32 states and two territories through FTA’s Areas of Persistent Poverty (AoPP) program. FTA grants the awards on a competitive basis to state and local governments, transit agencies, and nonprofit organizations to create better transit for residents who have limited or no transportation options.
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) will receive $500,000 in funding to develop innovative funding and planning models to continue zero-fare service. The study team will assess the economic and health impacts of the zero-fare transit policy in Kansas City and develop a model to extend service to areas of persistent poverty and ensure sustainability of local funds.
The funding program supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 initiative and general goals of advancing racial equity and improving public health and the environment through transportation planning that results in new or better transit service.
AoPP grants are awarded for planning, engineering, and technical studies or financial plans to improve transit in Census-defined low-income areas. The program also supports coordinated human service transportation planning to improve transit service or provide new services, including paratransit. Thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FTA expects to be able to support more projects in the next round of grant awards.
FTA received applications totaling close to $63 million in funding requests. Projects were selected based on criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Information on prior-year funded projects under the program, previously known as the Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) initiative, can be found here.