Via believes safe, accessible, and equitable transit should be available to all. Rural governments have long struggled to fund transit services and infrastructure, leaving many individuals dependent on cars or without adequate mobility options. Rural Surface Transportation grants can be used to address this challenge by funding a broad range of transportation projects, including “on-demand mobility systems” such as microtransit. A well-designed microtransit service can cover a large, low-density area with a high quality of service, without the expense of running underutilized fixed routes, making microtransit a particularly attractive solution for rural areas.
States, local governments, tribal governments, transit agencies and regional transportation planning organizations may apply for funding for projects located in rural areas, which is defined in this program as any area except a Census-designated urbanized area with more than 200,000 population. In other words, non-urbanized areas or urbanized areas with a population of less than 200,000 are both considered “rural”.
Furthermore, a project may include some non-rural areas so long as the majority of project costs are spent in rural areas. 10% of funds, or $67.5 million, are reserved for small projects under $25 million in size. The remaining 90% is reserved for projects greater than $25 million in size. The grant will cover up to 80% of capital costs for eligible projects. In addition, the Department of Transportation will allow applicants to use the FTA’s capital cost of contracting rule to consider some portion of a transportation contract with a private entity as a capital cost. For a turnkey microtransit contract, 50% of the contract may be considered as capital cost, meaning that the Rural grant will cover at least 40% of the total project cost. DOT will evaluate proposals on six criteria: the degree to which they provide economic benefits; address climate change, resiliency, and the environment; improve equity, quality of life, and transportation access; improve safety; maintain a state of good repair; and demonstrate innovative project delivery and financing approaches.
For small projects (under $25 million), only three criteria will be considered: safety; climate change, resiliency, and the environment; and equity, quality of life, and transportation access. More detailed information about the grant, including selection criteria and eligible projects, can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity here . For information on how to apply, please see the program page here . If you’re interested in applying to launch a TransitTech -enabled service like the ones mentioned above, please reach out to our team at partnerships@ridewithvia.org . We would love to support your efforts.
Applications are due on August 21, 2023. See more alerts here and click the button below to receive our newsletter, with new funding alerts included every month.
