AAMU Transportation Unit Awarded FTA Grant
Grant will boost electric bus orders to six
Alabama A&M University has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from FTA to purchase two additional buses that will help replace its aging fleet of diesel vehicles. The award was announced by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby on Tuesday, July 23.
The recent award—a third installment toward the school’s previous orders of four electric buses—means that AAMU will have a total of six FTA-funded electric buses by the summer of 2020. Two no emission buses are scheduled to be delivered in September, along with an additional two electric buses in spring 2020.
Minus warranty, infrastructure and other related costs, each bus costs about $750,000, according to Marshall Chimwedzi, director of AAMU’s Bulldog Transit System (BTS). Chimwedzi said that BTS’ goal is to acquire eight buses that will impact the campus long-term via low emissions, less energy use and dependence on fossil fuels, and less overall maintenance.