Federal grant programs / Department of Transportation

Federal Transit Formula Grants (20.507)

Also known as Urbanized Area Formula Funding Program

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$79 billion
• Grant awards5,068
• Typical award$2.3 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$9.8 billion
• Size rank10 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $20 billion in fiscal 2021 to $9.8 billion in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 10th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 60% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 53 states and territories.

What the program funds

Provide federal formula funding to transit agencies, states, and local/regional governments to plan, develop, improve, maintain, and operate public transportation systems in urbanized areas (as defined by the most recent decennial census as urban areas with populations of 50,000 or more). Eligible uses include capital projects, planning, and operating assistance to support regular, continuing shared?ride public transportation services that are open to the general public or defined segments of the public (e.g., by age, disability, or low income). The program also includes a ferry set?aside (49 U.S.C. 5307(h)) to support ferry services and related infrastructure in urbanized areas when those ferries are part of the recipient’s public transportation system. Projects must meet standard 5307 eligibility requirements (i.e., serve public transportation needs, not solely tourism, and benefit residents of the urbanized area). Separate competitive Assistance Listings (20.540, 20.538, and 20.539) cover other federal ferry funding opportunities.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Funds will be made available for urbanized areas (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and in 49 U.S.C. Chapter 53) through states and designated recipients, which must be public entities and have the legal capacity to receive and dispense federal funds. A state's or territory's Governor, responsible local officials, and publicly owned operators of mass transportation services must jointly select the designated recipient(s) for an urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or more. The Governor or her/his designee acts as the designated recipient for an urbanized area with a population of 50,000 to 199,999. Recipients must submit a program of projects detailing how the funds will be used and by whom to FTA; submit a program application to FTA; enter into formal agreements with FTA; and certify that certain public participation requirements have been met.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Funds may be used for capital projects to finance the planning, design, acquisition, construction, lease, improvement, and maintenance of equipment and facilities for use in transit. For urbanized areas with populations under 200,000 and urbanized areas with 200,000 or more in population with recipients operating 100 or fewer vehicles in peak service, funds may be used to finance transit operating costs for modes other than rail fixed-guideway. Recipients of these grants are required to make information available to the public and to publish a program of projects to afford affected citizens opportunities through public hearings to submit comments on the proposed program and the performance of the recipient. In addition, a Passenger Ferry Grant Program component awards funding on a competitive discretionary selection basis. One percent of the funds apportioned to urbanized areas must be expended on security projects, or the designated recipient(s) must certify that such expenditures for security projects are unnecessary. For recipients in urbanized areas with populations of 200,000 or more, a minimum of 0.75 percent of funds must be expended on safety-related activities. Recipients in urbanized areas with populations of 200,000 or more that operate greater than 100 vehicles in peak service may not use funds for transit operating assistance.;

Matching requirements

Statutory Formula: Title 49 USC, Part 5336, Subpart a-c, h-j,Public Law 112-141.The formula that drives amounts made available for use in urbanized areas is based on urbanized area population, low-income population, and population density for urbanized areas with populations of less than 200,000. Urbanized areas with populations of less than 200,000 may also receive additional funding based on whether they exceed in certain performance factors the average with respect to those factors for urbanized areas with a population of at least 200,000 but less than 1,000,000. For urbanized areas with a population of 200,000 or more, amounts made available are based on population, low-income population, population density, transit vehicle revenue miles, passenger miles, fixed-guideway directional route miles, operating expenses, and whether commuter rail operates within the urbanized area.The program operates under the statutory formula prescribed in 49 U.S.C. 5336. The federal share is not to exceed 80 percent of the net project cost for capital and planning expenses. The Federal share may be 90 percent for the cost of vehicle-related equipment and facilities attributable to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act or 85 percent for the cost of a vehicle that complies with these requirements. The Federal share may not exceed 50 percent of the net cost for operating assistance.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Deadlines do not apply

Award range and average, in the agency's words

We cannot provide an approximate average range, as it varies according to local programming of available formula funds and the level of operating expenses incurred. FY 2020- $22,696,291,664 was made available for supplemental CARES ACT funding.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 45% of the money, tribes less than 0.1% and colleges and universities less than 0.1%.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.