The Federal Transit Administration awarded Jefferson Parish a $5.4 million grant this week to purchase five, new low-emission buses, drawing on funds approved by Congress in 2021 as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The cash will help Jefferson Parish replace the diesel-fueled vehicles in its aging fleet with hybrid buses, which rely on a combination of diesel fuel and electric-powered batteries. At the moment, Jefferson Parish Transit has 49 buses in operation, all diesel-fueled.
"This project which we are celebrating here today will provide many benefits that will help Jefferson Parish Transit better serve riders by modernizing its buses, improving air quality and reducing its carbon footprint," Gail Lyssy, a regional administrator at the FTA, said at an event Tuesday.
Jefferson Parish has made an effort in recent years to modernize its fleet of buses and already has three hybrid buses on order. The funding will push the number of hybrid buses in its fleet to eight.
The Regional Transit Authority received a $71.4 million grant from the FTA in 2023 to purchase 20 electric buses and fund the installation of charging infrastructure. The money came through the same Low- and No-Emission Grant program.
Ninette Barrios, the parish's transit director, said Jefferson Parish has no interest in replacing its vehicles with all-electric buses.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has allocated nearly $5 billion in the past three years to public transit agencies to replace and modernize their bus fleets, Lyssy said.
The funding has helped replace 920 buses, she said, adding that all of the vehicles are made in the United States, "translating to good-paying, American jobs."
The announcement took place at the parish's east bank transportation operations facility, which was constructed with the help of an $8.9 million grant from the federal government.