The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $10 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 for projects that enhance mobility innovation for transit under the Public Transportation Innovation Program.
Donor Name: Department of Transportation
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/17/2025
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The strategic goal for this program is to make existing and new buses safer for their operators and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers. The Bus Safety and Accessibility Research Program seeks proposals to research standard bus designs, safety innovations and systems, and bus compartments that support these safety and accessibility goals. Additionally, this NOFO will require the development of detailed design specifications and production of a prototype that is available through a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses.
In keeping with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s focus on improving safety in the nation’s transportation systems, FTA’s Bus Safety and Accessibility Program supports the development of standard designs and prototypes that will make existing and new buses safer for operators, riders and vulnerable road users, as well as more accessible for passengers.
FTA’s top priority remains to enhance the safety of America’s public transportation systems. Projects solicited by this funding opportunity must address bus operator health and safety; transit vehicle safety, and accessibility; and provide a foundation for transformative bus systems and designs that enhance safety.
Objectives
Project objectives include focusing on developing driver safety systems and passenger safety systems, including:
- Researching standard bus designs, innovations, and technologies to make existing and new buses safer for their operator and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers.
- Producing a prototype that is available as a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses.
Funding Information
Estimated Total Program Funding: $10,000,000.
Eligible Projects
The strategic goal for this program is to make existing and new buses safer for their operators and vulnerable road users, and safer and more accessible for their passengers. The program objectives include research on bus designs, innovations, and technologies, as well as production of a prototype that is available through a retrofit on existing buses and for installation in new buses. The program’s key focus areas are:
- Driver Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect the operator and enhance the safety of those outside of the vehicle including vulnerable road users.
- Passenger Safety Systems – Changes made to the transit vehicle and technology upgrades that protect and increase accessibility of the passengers.
All applicants will also be expected to produce results that follow three major principles. These principles represent the values on which FTA will judge whether objectives have been met.
- Partnerships
- Recipients will collaborate across multiple industry sectors including all or some of these priority groups:
- Transit Vehicle Manufacturers
- Transit Agencies
- Transit Labor Unions
- Disability Organizations
- Transit riders
- Domestic and International Research Groups
- Component Manufacturers
- Recipients will collaborate across multiple industry sectors including all or some of these priority groups:
- Widely Implementable
- Proposals are encouraged to be innovative but must consider risks to implementation and interoperability to ensure nationwide relevancy and adoption. Proposals should be able to be adopted quickly, on a wide scale.
- Deliverables should be applicable to current and new 35- and 40-ft or articulated bus models that have passed Altoona testing, comply with all other applicable Federal requirements, and are manufactured by companies eligible to compete for FTA-funded contracts.
- Economic vitality
- Recipients will support the U.S. industrial base by complying with Buy America. Recognizing Executive Order 14005, “Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers” (86 FR 7475), proposed projects must support economic vitality at the national and regional level, including advancing domestic industry and promoting domestic development of intellectual property.
Eligibility Criteria
- Private institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- City or township governments
- Small businesses
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- State governments
- County governments
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
