President Joe Biden’s administration will provide $9.8 billion in federal funds to public transit agencies, the latest effort to highlight investments in U.S. infrastructure as he seeks reelection in November.
The investments will help people travel faster and at modest prices, according to a senior administration official, with money going toward assisting communities maintain and operate trains, buses and ferries, upgrade stations and plan for new transit corridors. The funds will also help provide access to public transit for older people and riders with disabilities.
The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Agency, which said the partial-year funding was being distributed to states and cities based on statutory formulas, allowing them to move forward with work to expand or modernize transit operations.
Biden has made his administration’s infrastructure investments a focus of his message on the economy, traveling the country to visit projects financed by federal dollars and touting their effect on communities. Still, he’s struggled to translate that into political gain, with polls showing voters largely disapprove of his handling of the economy.
Earlier in February, the FTA announced $631 million in grants to help transit agencies in Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia replace older railcars, and in a separate initiative made available $1.5 billion in funding to support state and local efforts to buy or modernize buses and bus facilities.
