Washington, D.C.—Congressman Brian Baird (WA-03) today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded two grants totaling more than $6.5 million to Clark County Transit Benefit Area (C-Tran) and Intercity Transit in Thurston County to help both transit systems upgrade their buses, equipment, and facilities.

Funding comes from the new Federal Transit Administration (FTA) “State of Good Repair” grant program, with the FTA awarding $4,530,000 to C-Tran and $2,000,000 to Intercity Transit.  

 “Southwest Washington has bus service that is safe, reliable, and comfortable right now,” Congressman Baird said.  “This federal funding helps C-Tran and Intercity Transit continue to deliver this high quality bus service.  Thousands of people in Southwest Washington rely on bus service to get to work, to school, and to doctor visits, and it’s essential that all parts of our infrastructure are in good repair to serve them.”

C-Tran will use the FTA grant money to improve their facilities, including upgrading storm water treatment and paving a gravel parking lot, and purchase new equipment, which includes state-of-the-art fareboxes, bus washes, and a paint booth.  Intercity Transit will use their funding to purchase hybrid diesel-electric buses to replace older coaches.  

The State of Good Repair program is funding 152 projects for urban and rural transit providers across the country.  The program comes in response to an FTA report that estimates that more than 40 percent of the nation’s buses are presently in poor to marginal condition.