Soto Helps Secure Millions of Dollars for LYNX

Orlando Business Journal: Lynx scores millions in federal transportation dollars. Here's what it will be used for.

This article was written by Ryan Lynch and published by Orlando Business Journal​​​​​​​ on July 23, 2024

Lynx just got a major grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Orlando-based Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which does business as Lynx, received $27.61 million from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Grant Program.

With the funds that U.S. Rep. Darren Soto (D-Florida) helped secure, the bus and paratransit service provider will add 30 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to its fleet — part of the move of its full fleet to a mix of low- and zero-emission vehicles by 2028.

The grant is part of $1.5 billion being awarded related to 2021's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“117 communities, including Orlando, received the good news that their transit buses are being modernized and their commutes improved through President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a press release. “The Biden-Harris Administration is helping agencies across 47 states replace old buses running on dirty, expensive fuels by delivering modern and zero-emission buses, manufactured by American workers, that will connect more people to where they need to go.”

Lynx spokesman Matt Friedman told Orlando Business Journal the funding will allow the bus system to immediately procure new vehicles.

Its fleet has more than 311 vehicles and the new purchases will bring it down to only 20 diesel and hybrid vehicles. Besides the CNG buses, it also has 14 electric buses in its fleet, several of which are used on the Lymmo downtown circulator routes.

Lynx primarily services more than 2,500 square miles in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties, with more than 18.42 million passenger trips in fiscal year 2023.