A total of 1,300 eligible bus, motorcoach, and passenger vessel companies will receive $1.6 billion in COVID-19 relief through the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) grant program.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, the COVID-19 relief bill, included $2 billion for the CERTS Act. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in December 2020.
A total of 80 percent of the grants have been awarded to bus, motorcoach, passenger vessel, and pilot vessel companies. There are more than 3,000 such companies in the United States, most small and family-owned.
These companies were forced to furlough or laid off thousands of employees after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of school field trips, tours, and college sports seasons, and states and localities moved to virtual learning and curtailed extracurricular and after-school programs. Ferries and passenger vessel recreational tours also were canceled.
The U.S. Treasury is in the process of reviewing eligible applicant’s financial information and applying a formula that provides each approved applicant with a proportionate share of the funding.
Companies will receive approximately 23 percent of their annual lost revenue, according to the Treasury.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), ranking member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, and Jack Reed (D-RI) co-authored the bill.