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Macomb transit director seeks up to $3 million in Low-No bus funding; department reports new vehicles in service
Summary
Macomb’s public transportation director briefed the committee on a planned application for a Low-No federal grant to buy two–three ADA-compliant 35-foot buses (request up to $3M with a 10–20% local match) and reported eight new vehicles received through a consolidated procurement program.
The City of Macomb’s public transportation director, Calabaria Petrino, told the Committee of the Whole on June 30 that the department intends to apply for a Federal Transit Administration “Low or No Emission” competitive grant in fiscal year 2025 to help replace and expand the bus fleet.
Petrino said the department will request up to $3 million from the NOFO to procure two to three 35-foot Gillig buses that are ADA-compliant, with a local match the department estimates at roughly 10–20 percent depending on vehicle choice. She said the request would use transit reserve funds as the local match and that staff would return with specific figures in the grant package.
Petrino also presented a quarterly overview of transit operations, explaining the department’s primary funding streams (the federal/state 5311 program and the Downstate Operating Assistance/PASS-type matching program). She reviewed ridership, peak-vehicle counts and trip-denial reasons — mostly scheduling and manpower constraints — and said trip denials for the quarter generally remained low (typically below 20).
The director reported that, coincidentally on the last day of the fiscal year, the department placed in service vehicles procured through the IDOT Consolidated Vehicle Procurement (CVP) program: four minivans and four light-duty buses that began service that day.
Council members asked staff to confirm local-match availability before finalizing the NOFO application; staff said reserves are sufficient to cover a 20 percent match if required. The committee agreed to schedule the Low‑No grant application for action at the next council meeting.
