NextStop Blog

Metro Transit will receive a $5.4 million grant award from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to expand its battery electric bus program in the St. Louis region. The funds are part of the $1.6 billion in grant awards from the U.S. Department of Transportation through the FTA to transit agencies across the nation to purchase or lease new low or zero-emissions transit vehicles and to build charging infrastructure to support clean bus technology. The federal grant program will nearly double the number of no emission transit buses on America’s roadways. In the St. Louis region, this project will improve air quality and should provide a better transit experience for MetroBus riders.

This is the second federal grant award notification this year for Metro Transit’s battery electric program. Both sets of federal funds are for the construction of a new bus-charging infrastructure at the DeBaliviere MetroBus facility in the City of St. Louis, and for the purchase of several new battery electric buses. The new battery electric buses will replace clean burning diesel buses scheduled for retirement as they exceed their useful life.

Metro owns 24 battery electric buses that are in service in the City of St. Louis and in St. Louis County, with overnight charging taking place at the Brentwood MetroBus facility in St. Louis County. Fourteen 60-foot battery electric buses currently operate on the #70 Grand in St. Louis, which is Metro’s busiest bus route in the region. Ten 40-foot battery electric buses operate on various routes in St. Louis and in St. Louis County. The 60-foot battery electric buses charge on the fly during the service day at the North Broadway-Taylor Transit Center and then charge overnight at the Brentwood MetroBus facility.

All new vehicles purchased for the battery electric bus fleet are zero-emission buses funded through various FTA grants (70-80%) and local sales tax sources (20-30%) and all offer similar cost savings and environmental benefits. The combination of the two federal grant awards and local matches could support the purchase of up to 12 new 40-foot battery electric buses and the charging infrastructure at the DeBaliviere MetroBus facility. Metro launched 18 of the battery electric buses into service in June 2021 in what was one of the largest initial electric bus deployments in the nation.