Brazos Transit District receives $9.65 million grant to improve fleet across the Brazos Valley
By Diamond Dickson, KRHD
July 14, 2023
BRYAN, Texas — The Brazos Transit District in Bryan has been providing transportation across the area for nearly 50 years.
BTD has received a $9.65 million dollar grant to expand their operations thanks to the Federal Transit Administration.
“There’s more of a need that we can provide so we’re just trying to do what we can to make transportation and mobility better for both cities,” said Jo Marlow, VP Marketing & Communications, Brazos Transit District.
Marlow says receiving the grant was a highly competitive process.
“Out of the 475 proposals, 130 were awarded,” Marlow said. “There were only 10 awards in Texas and BTD was one of the 10.”
Since 1991, the Brazos Transit District and Texas A&M Transportation Services have shared a partnership providing transportation to Brazos Valley area.
“We plan to order a total of 21 vehicles,” Marlow said. “Six are going to be for A&M and then the other buses are going to be for BTD.”
Texas A&M Transit Manager Justin Tippy said these new buses will help replace the ones that are more than a decade old.
“These six buses will add to our fleet and replacing six of out diesel buses that are past their useful life,” Tippy said.
This grant will provide low or zero emission vehicles as well as equipment.
“We’ll also have some for our demand and response service and an electric trolley that we’ll develop for both cities,” Marlow said.
Tippy says the A&M buses will carry thousands of students a day and millions over the course of the school year.
“During the fall and spring semesters, we carry about 50,000, 45 to 50 thousand passengers a day and so these buses will help aid in carrying all those passengers around each day and add to the approximate six million passengers we carry in a year,” Tippy said.
Marlow says reliable transportation is needed across Bryan and College Station and beyond.
“BTD covers 21 counties in Central and East Texas, so we’re not just here in Bryan-College Station, so we cover all the way to Sabine County, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, so we cover a large area,” Marlow said.
Ultimately making the need for transportation more accessible across the board.
“It goes a long way towards helping the community not only with Texas A&M but helping the cities of Bryan-College Station and Texas A&M,” Tippy said.
“And also, the local partnerships within both cities, our local reps, our state and federal officials as well,” Marlow said. “They played a big part of us getting the grant and we’re excited to get this process started.”
Marlow says it'll be at least two years before the buses are ready to hit the road.
Read KRHD article
