Link Transit Receives Hefty Grant for Electrification

Link Transit passengers have much to look forward to, most notably a spanking new fleet of electric buses!

Before you know it, Link will have achieved "100% electrification on [its] fixed-route fleet," according to a press release. This is thanks to "the purchase of five new battery-electric vehicles" that are expected to be fully operational by February 2026.

Link announced on Wednesday that it had received millions of dollars from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The press release identifies two FTA programs as indispensable to the procurement of green buses.

The Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities program "provides federal funding for transit agencies to buy and rehabilitate buses and vans and build and modernize bus facilities."

Get our free mobile app

"The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides nearly $2 billion through 2026 for the program. For Fiscal Year 2024, approximately $390 million for grants was available under this program."

Then there's the Low- and-No Emission program, which "makes funding available to help transit agencies buy or lease U.S.-built low- or no-emission vehicles." Facility upgrades and ancillary equipment are also covered under the program, which is funded through 2026 ($5.6B).

Joe Biden's career is bound up, almost inextricably, with the rise of global trade liberalization; he was a fervid promoter of NAFTA way back when. But as president, Biden has spent trillions to re-industralize the U.S. economy.

His efforts have and continue to reverberate throughout Central Washington, but this is a national endeavor. Nationwide, according to the press release, there are 117 mass transit projects in the pipeline.

Click here to read about the folly of underinvesting in rural mass transit.