A local transportation company will receive federal funding for a new facility.
The Michigan Department of Transportation has been granted $10,700,000 on behalf of Whitmore Lake-based People’s Express to build a transit maintenance and operations center near Ann Arbor and for the Interurban Transit Authority to rehabilitate and expand its maintenance and administrative facility outside Grand Rapids.
The money was part of 130 awards totaling nearly $1.7 billion announced last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The funds come from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Biden in 2021 and help fund transit projects in 46 states and territories. Officials say the funding invests in more than 1,700 American-built buses that will be manufactured with American parts and labor.
People’s Express is a low-cost public transportation organization that serves South Lyon, Lyon Township, Milford, Saline, Northfield Township, Commerce Township and Wixom. It will also be purchasing all-electric vehicles for its fleet.
According to a press release, many of the grant recipients have pledged to buy standardized buses and vans and avoid customization, which will result in faster delivery and lower costs.
“Every day, over 60,000 buses in communities of all sizes take millions of Americans to work, school, and everywhere else they need to go,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said the funding grants mean “more clean buses, less pollution, more jobs in manufacturing and maintenance, and better commutes for families across the country.”
