The Bloomington Transit wants to build a new facility for operations and maintenance, and to expand services .
To do that, the board of directors will apply for $35 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program. The federal program has $1.5 billion available to award for the 2024 fiscal year.
Read more: City council apprives Bloomington Transit expansion
The entire project will cost nearly $43 million. If they get the federal funding, the rest would be paid through a local match of $8.75 million.
Bloomington Transit’s General manager John Connell said a 2011 study forecasted the need for expanded facilities.
"Unfortunately, our current facility is somewhat limited in size and space," Connell said. "We are quite frankly, just running out of space."
He added BT plans to add additional buses for a rapid transit route that runs East-West across town.
“In order to offer more frequent service, it takes additional vehicles," he said. "And in order to accommodate and expanding fleet, we're going to need this new facility. So ultimately, the goal is to deliver much more frequent service to the general public.”
Bloomington Transit is also transitioning to an entirely battery electric fleet, which Connell says needs an indoor storage facility.
