Broward County Transit Receives $7.8 Million Dollar Florida Grant

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded $7.8 million to Broward County Transit (BCT) toward the purchase of 26 new electric transit buses through its Electric Transit Bus Project as part of the government’s settlement with Volkswagen over claims the company violated the Clean Air Act.

This funding will be used in conjunction with BCT’s plans to replace older technology diesel buses with new electric buses. From this awarded grant, $300,000 will be applied to each of the 26 new electric buses purchased, with the remainder of the funding coming from a combination of County Transportation Surtax and Federal Transit Administration formula grant funding. BCT was the first transit agency in South Florida to deploy electric buses and currently operates 12 all-electric buses and 46 hybrid electric buses out of its fleet of 413 vehicles.

“We are honored to be recognized by the Department of Environmental Protection as a leader in sustainability and to be a recipient of this electric bus grant,” said BCT’s Deputy General Manager Tim Garling. “This funding from DEP will be integral in BCT’s continued commitment to protect air quality and move toward our goal of a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035.”

DEP’s Electric Transit Bus Project utilizes funds from Florida’s portion of the 2016 Volkswagen Settlement and EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant program to reduce mobile air pollution caused by diesel emissions by replacing diesel buses with cleaner electric buses.

Electric transit buses are an important and effective way to reduce harmful emissions, especially in highly populated areas where mobile sources are the largest sources of air pollution. As more electric transit buses are deployed, emissions of air pollutants will be reduced, which will continue to improve Florida’s air quality.