USDOT Announces $2B in Grants for Transit Buses, Favoring Hybrids Over Electric Options

The new round of grants for buses and facility upgrades doesn’t include any for battery-electric buses, favoring instead diesel-electric hybrids and CNG buses.

1 minute read

November 26, 2025, 6:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Blue clean-energy hybrid gas-electric bus in New York City.

Karolis Kavolelis / Shutterstock

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is awarding more than $2 billion in grants to 165 transit agencies for new buses and bus facility upgrades through a bus and bus facilities and the low-emission and zero-emission buses (“low-no”) grant programs. 

According to an article by Jeff Davis for the Eno Center for Transportation, “The funding, provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, is the fiscal 2025 funding for the program plus another $525 million taken from the fiscal 2026 advance appropriation, which became available on October 1.”

Davis notes that while the amount for bus funding has stayed the same since the Biden administration, the emphasis of the low-no program has shifted to support hybrid vehicles over battery-electric buses. “The new grant list has, near as we can tell, zero battery-electric bus grants.” The grants were awarded to proposals for diesel-electric hybrids and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.

Friday, November 21, 2025 in Eno Center for Transportation

Young Professional

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

Get top-rated, practical training for planners

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

A pencil rendering of Foundry Park, which shows skyscrapers and public green spaces.

Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment

The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.

October 23, 2026 - Chicago Sun Times

A swamp in South Carolina with tall pale trees and Spanish moss in the water.

Satanic place names

From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.

October 31 - The Daily Yonder

A rendering of a high speed rain station in California, with wide platforms and a sleep train with yellow highlights.

California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal

Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.

October 30 - Cal Matters

 A bridge stretches across the Missouri River at Chamberlain, South Dakota.

Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states

Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.

October 30 - South Dakota Searchlight