FTA: $1.94MM for Research to Improve the Transit Customer Experience
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
FTA Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. (FTA)
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on July 1 announced that $1.94 million in competitive grant funding is now available to support research conducted by providers of public transportation under the Enhancing Mobility Innovation (EMI) program, which “supports research projects that will improve customer convenience, such as creating easier ways to pay for transit and enhancing transit schedules based on rider demand.”
According to FTA, the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is intended to “advance emerging technologies, strategies, and innovations that make transit easier and more accessible for transit riders across the country.”
FTA will allocate funding to support rider-centered research projects in two categories:
- Innovations that focus on new service delivery models, creative financing, novel partnerships, and integrated payment solutions; and
- Software solutions that improve ways to provide demand-response public transportation service.
Eligible applicants include transit agencies; state or local departments of transportation; Indian tribes; private and nonprofit organizations; colleges and universities; and state and local governments, including metropolitan planning organizations.
This is the second round of funding for enhancing mobility innovation. In August 2022, FTA selected nine projects in six states to support mobility and innovation.
“The Enhancing Mobility Innovation program supports transit agencies as they work to strengthen mobility, with a focus on how innovation can improve service delivery and make trains, buses and ferries easier to use and more attractive to riders,” said FTA Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. “This funding will help spur innovation so that people can get to their destinations more reliably, comfortably and conveniently.”
Instructions for applying and eligibility information can be found on FTA’s website and at GRANTS.GOV (solicitation number FTA-2024-010-TRI-EMI). Complete proposals must be submitted electronically through the GRANTS.GOV “APPLY” function by August 30, 2024.
