FTA 07-04
Contact: Velvet Snow
Tel.: (202) 366-4043
Thursday, February 26, 2004

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces $3.4 Million For Transit Projects in Tennessee

Tennessee residents will benefit from transit enhancements and improved bus services as a result of twp grants totaling $3.4 million announced today by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta.

“Every day residents of Tennessee do their part to keep the economy moving when they commute to work,” said Secretary Mineta.  “Today we do our part by making the kind of investment that will keep commuters moving.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (TN) added, “The funding Secretary Mineta is providing today will allow Knoxville and Nashville to improve their transit systems to better serve transit users. Congestion is increasingly becoming a serious problem for all of Tennessee’s major metropolitan areas, and this funding will expand mass transit opportunities and help to address this growing problem.”

The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority will use a $1.6 million grant to buy seven 40-foot wheelchair accessible buses, which will replace buses that have exceeded useful life. Nashville currently maintains 109 active fixed-route vehicles and 28 active paratransit vehicles, and operates 40 bus routes. They carry approximately 4 million passengers annually.

A second grant for $1.8 million will be used by the Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) to buy nine new 30-foot transit buses, which will replace buses that have exceeded useful life. KAT, the mass transit system for the city of Knoxville, operates 80 buses, paratransit LIFT vehicles, and downtown trolleys. KAT carries approximately 2 million passengers per year and operates 28 routes, including 3 express routes and 3 trolley routes.

In FY 2003, $9,344,947 was allocated to Tennessee for capital bus and bus facilities projects.

Briefing Room