The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will soon make available $212.3 million in Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program funds to transit agencies to help them recover from major declared disasters in 2017 and 2020-2022.
FTA’s Emergency Relief program enables the agency to provide assistance to public transit operators following the aftermath of an emergency or major disaster, including natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
It helps states and public transportation systems handle capital projects that repair or replace facilities or equipment that suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency; pay for the repair and/or replacement of equipment and facilities that suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency; support the cost of evacuation, rescue operations, temporary public transportation service; and re-establish, expand, or relocate service before, during or after an emergency.
Applications must be submitted electronically by May 26. Transit agencies must have eligible expenses within those timeframes resulting from an event for which the president declared a major disaster to receive funding.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 appropriated funding for the program to support 2017 and 2020-22 declared disasters. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in December 2022.
Instructions for applying and eligibility information can be found on grants.gov.