Eshoo Announces $4.9 Million for Clean Hybrid Buses

SamTrans riders will see a fleet of new, clean, hybrid buses come online thanks to a grant won by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), her office announced Thursday.

The $4.9 million grant, awarded to the San Mateo County Transit District, will buy their first fleet of energy efficient passenger vehicles, and comes under the Federal Transit Authority’s Bus and Bus Facilities Initiative.

Eshoo wrote the FTA requesting the money earlier this year.

 “After 15 years of solid service for community riders, this award will go a long way toward keeping the SamTrans bus system a viable transportation option,” Rep. Eshoo said. “With these new energy efficient buses, we will have a 21^st century fleet that reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, keeps costs down, and helps grow our local economy.”

SamTrans predicts that the new bus fleet will help create and retain local manufacturing jobs and contribute millions in local wages, according to Eshoo’s office. The initiative also falls under the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s 2035 Regional Transportation Program and will fit into the Regional Transit Capital Inventory, a good repair database for transit operators in the Bay Area.

Like South San Francisco Patch on Facebook | Sign up for the South San Francisco Patch daily newsletter | Blog for South San Francisco Patch