2003 Federal Transit Appropriations - Update
Congress has finally acted on 2003 appropriations for public transportation. Highway funding remained at a constant level from that of 2002, while transit funding increased by level guaranteed in TEA-21, or $7.2 billion, less $47 million due to across-the-board funding cuts. The Clean Fuels bus program saw $50 million transferred from that program to the discretionary Bus & Bus Facilities program at FTA, and another $45 million was transferred from the Job Access & Reverse Commute program, or JARC, to the Fixed Guideway New Starts program. A breakdown of the formula program grants will come as soon as more detailed information is released. Corpus Christi RTA will receive some $500,000 in highway intelligent transportation funding for its ADART program (Autonomous Dial-A-Ride Transit) for their Phase Four implementation.
Transit Fixed Guidway New Starts earmarks:
DART - North Central Light Rail extension at $60 million
Houston Metro - Advanced Metro Transit Plan at $11 million
Bus & Bus Facilities earmarks:
Abilene CityLink bus replacement at $600,000
Austin’s Capital Metro bus projects at $5,000,000
Beaumont Transit buses at $100,000
Brownsville Urban Transit buses at $100,000
Corpus Christi RTA at $500,000
El Paso Sun Metro at $1,500,000
Fort Worth Transportation Authority at $3,000,000
Galveston Island Transit buses at $1,000,000
Houston Metro’s Advanc3ed Transit program at $2,000,000
Laredo El Metro administration, operations, and maintenance facility at $1,750,000
Lubbock Citibus buses at $150,000
Odessa and Midland alternative fueled transit buses at $1,000,000
San Antonio VIA at $1,500,0000
Texas Tech University Park & Ride, and buses (Lubbock) at $1,850,000
Waco Transit buses, and maintenance and administration facility at $1,900,000
The Woodlands District park and ride at $1,200,000
JARC earmarks:
Abilene CityLink at $100,000
Capital Metro at $2,500,000
Lubbock Citibus at $230,000
Corpus Christi RTA at $1,225,000
East Texas Just Transportation Alliance (Tyler Transit) at $200,000
El Paso Sun Metro at $250,000
Galveston Island Transit at $600,000
San Antonio at $1,088,000