Mahoning Valley receives nearly $6.2M in federal funds to upgrade public transit

Public transit agencies in Mahoning and Mercer counties are expected to receive $6,190,643 million in federal funds for upgrades.

Ohio’s total $259 million awarded through the Federal Transit Administration comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund and is intended to help transit agencies and communities buy new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs and modernize fleets, a news release states.

“Efficient transportation and good-paying jobs are key as we work to secure a sustainable, American-made transportation future,” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said in a news release.

Mahoning County’s only designated recipient for FTA funding is the Western Reserve Transit Authority. But some of its FTA funding awards are shared with a transit system in Mercer County, Pennsylvania — usually about one-fifth, WRTA Executive Director Dean Harris told Mahoning Matters.

The $6.2 million award is 50% larger than WRTA could expect to receive in a normal year, due to an increase included in the federal infrastructure package, he said. WRTA officials are now considering which long-term projects can be fast-tracked with this new funding, he said.

Trumbull County no longer has a transit agency that is designated to receive FTA funds.

“This is the beginning of the largest investment in Ohio’s public transportation ever,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a news release. “Transit is all about the dignity of work — it creates jobs, it connects people to jobs, it draws in investment, and it will help communities across Ohio grow and create opportunity.”

Federal Transit Administration apportionment tables with the full amounts provided for programs can be viewed here.