Birmingham public transit gets funds to make buses electric

The Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority has been granted $1.5 million by the U.S. Transportation Department for new, fuel-less buses.

The funds, dispersed as part of the Fiscal Year 2018 Low or No-Emission (Low-No) Bus Program Project, will be used “to purchase battery electric buses and charging stations,” according to a department project description.

“The main purpose of the Low-No Program is to support the transition of the nation’s transit fleet to the lowest polluting and most energy efficient transit vehicles,” the department described earlier this year.

The federal agency has dispersed $84,448,990 in Low-No funding to 41 states, and Birmingham is the only Alabama city that has been granted Low-No money.