ODOT and OEPA awards $1.9 million in funds to SORTA to purchase four clean-diesel buses

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) have awarded Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) $1.9 million in grant funds this year toward its ongoing efforts to modernize and green its fleet. The funds will go toward the purchase of four new, clean-diesel buses for Cincinnati Metro’s fixed-route transit service.

“Modernizing our fleet is one of the key pieces of ensuring the Reinventing Metro plan makes a lasting impact on our region and our environment,” said SORTA CEO & General Manager Darryl Haley. “Funding opportunities from partners like ODOT and the EPA are critical in driving that mission forward and expanding the footprint of our service to the community in a reliable and sustainable way.”

The grant, distributed jointly by ODOT and OEPA, comes from the federal Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant program, administered by the U.S. EPA.

The four new, clean-diesel vehicles will assist Cincinnati Metro’s ongoing plan to revitalize its fleet with newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. These clean-diesel buses will be equipped with a new cooling system, along with other technologies that work to lower their engines’ overall carbon footprint.

During the past three years, Cincinnati Metro has worked aggressively to modernize the agency’s fleet by replacing their aging buses. Since 2019, the agency has added roughly 100 new buses with new amenities like charging ports, free Wi-Fi and video safety monitors. The grant will help extend those modernization efforts by allowing us to introduce more fuel-efficiency into the fleet while, at the same time, reducing the number of buses in circulation past their useful life.