Pinellas transit agency wins nearly $893,000 federal grant for automation
The public transportation agency serving Pinellas County was awarded an $892,609 federal grant Thursday to support the automation of bus maintenance operations.
The money from the Federal Transit Administration is to be used to test retrofitting a bus to operate autonomously in the hope of allowing routine bus yard tasks to be done more efficiently. The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will also implement automated parking and recall to improve yard operations and reallocate driver time.
The grant, one of six awarded nationally, totaling $11.6 million, is part of the transit administration’s exploration of the use of automation technologies in bus systems to improve safety, increase efficiency and enhance the customer experience.
“The innovative research projects we are funding represent an important step toward integrating state-of-the-art automation technology into real-world settings, helping transit agencies protect their operators and riders as well as vulnerable road users,” Nuria Fernandez, the head of the transit administration, said in a statement.
The Pinellas transit agency was the only grant recipient in Florida. Hillsborough County’s transit agency, known as HART, did not apply, according to a Federal Transit Administration spokesperson.
Among the other awardees was Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, which received more than $4.5 million to collect data on automatic braking and pedestrian collision avoidance to enhance safety for buses. The Colorado Department of Transportation will receive more than $1.2 million to retrofit buses that serve critical rural transit routes and the Connecticut Department of Transportation will receive $2 million to expand automation technology along the state’s first bus rapid transit system.
