$3.4M Grant Goes To Harford Transit Updates

Bel Air MD

17 August, 2020

9:41 AM

Description

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Harford County received $3.5 million grant for public transit, according to federal lawmakers. The award of $3,437,370 from the Federal Transit Administration will go to the Maryland Department of Transportation, which will disburse it to Harford County. With the money, officials say Harford County can replace its current buses with a fleet that has less of an environmental impact. According to the Federal Transit Administration, Harford County will replace diesel buses that have exceeded their useful life with compressed natural gas buses, which are more eco-friendly. "Many of Maryland's workers rely on safe, dependable public transit, including those working on the front lines during this pandemic," U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Andy Harris and Dutch Ruppersberger said in a recent joint statement. "This award will allow Harford County to upgrade their bus fleet with cleaner, more reliable vehicles, so they can better serve the community. We will continue working to expand and modernize transit throughout Maryland." The grant came through the Federal Transit Administration's Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program, which enables recipients to replace, rehabilitate and purchase equipment related to buses and to build bus-related facilities. Harford County received the largest grant in Maryland in the round of funding announced this month. There were two other recipients — Howard County got $1.2 million to replace vehicles and implement an automatic announcement system on buses, while Carroll County received a little more than $118,000 to buy new vehicles to replace those that were in disrepair or old.