Feds Award $11.3 Million Grant for StarMetro

The City of Tallahassee was recently awarded a grant of more than $11.3 million from the Federal Transit Administration for StarMetro. Funds will be used to purchase eight electric buses, expand essential charging infrastructure and support workforce development programs to maintain the City’s growing electric fleet.

“Tallahassee was among only 117 projects nationwide to receive this federal funding,” Mayor ProTem Curtis Richardson said. “This is yet another major accomplishment and demonstrates the City’s continued leadership in sustainability and public service.”

The addition of these six battery-electric buses and two paratransit electric buses will further advance StarMetro toward the City’s strategic goal of achieving a fully electric bus fleet by 2035. New charging equipment will facilitate overnight charging and enable route restructuring, allowing more parts of the community to be served by emission-free vehicles.

This funding was provided by FTA’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities and Low-and No-Emission (Low-No) Vehicle programs. The Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities program provides federal funding for transit agencies to buy and rehabilitate buses and vans and build and modernize bus facilities. The Low-No Vehicle program makes funding available to help transit agencies buy or lease U.S.-built low- or no-emission vehicles, make facility upgrades to accommodate the vehicles and buy supporting equipment, like battery electric charging.

This funding adds to the $36 million in federal grant funding StarMetro received in 2023 to support construction of the Southside Transit Center, purchase battery-electric buses, build new charging infrastructure and develop a workforce training program. Projects like the Southside Transit Center, which is on track to be completed in 2025, are transformative and helping to achieve many of the City’s strategic plan goals.