The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) was recently awarded a $7.6 million grant for the purchase of seven all-electric Proterra buses and the infrastructure to charge and maintain them. The Texas A&M Transportation (TTI) is part of the project team and assisted DART with the grant proposal.
“One of the unique aspects about this project is that TTI worked closely with DART and other members of the team to help prepare the grant,” said TTI Associate Research Scientist John Overman. “It was an opportunity for us to use our expertise in preparing grants to help out another agency with their proposal.”
According to Overman, TTI’s role in the project will involve before and after analysis of the implementation of the converted fleet and provide an overall picture of how the new electric buses are working, such as how much energy is conserved.
DART was one of 10 projects selected to receive a total of $55 million in grants from the Federal Transportation Administration. DART’s application was supported by the North Texas congressional delegation. Other project partners include the City of Dallas, Proterra, Cavallo Energy Texas and Downtown Dallas, Inc.
“DART is pretty much a leader in converting their fleet to CNG,” said Overman. “This just goes in line with their long-term goals of investing in 21st century transportation solutions like these zero emission buses.”