Metro News

The federal funds will go toward a variety of improvements to Metro’s service and facilities.
CINCINNATI – Metro is pleased to announce it is the recipient of $12 million in grant funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI). The federal funds will go toward a variety of improvements to Metro’s service and facilities.

Six projects received funding in this round of grants, all of which will help bring the Reinventing Metro plan to life. Most notably, Metro received nearly $6 million toward new buses to revitalize its aging fleet, and another $3.5 million toward the construction of a new transit center planned for North College Hill.

Another $2.5 million will go toward a variety of projects meant to modernize Metro’s fleet and make it more sustainable, including:

•Fleet communications upgrades, including WiFi on all fixed-route buses
•Developing an organization-wide zero-emissions strategy
•Replacement batteries for 12 hybrid electric-diesel buses
•Automatic passenger counters, to better optimize service to match riders’ needs

“These grants will support Metro’s ongoing efforts to reinvent what public transit looks like in Hamilton County and across the region,” said Metro CEO and General Manager Darryl Haley. “While voters boosted Metro’s ability to enhance our bus service by passing Issue 7 last year, we still rely on grants like these to continue upgrading our fleet and facilities. We are thankful to the Ohio Department of Transportation and OKI for their continued support.”

These grants consist primarily of federal flex funds allocated by ODOT and OKI as part of the Surface Transportation Block Grant program.

# # #

Metro is a non-profit, tax-funded public service of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, providing about 13.5 million rides per year. Learn more about Metro at www.go-metro.com.