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Federal transit funding will increase in North Carolina

An increase in federal funding will allow North Carolina to add more mobile ridesharing services, such as this on-demand microtransit van in Wilmington. Photo courtesy NCDOT.

North Carolina officials have announced that federal transit funding to the state will increase by 25% this fiscal year. 

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is awarding North Carolina $176 million in public transit funding as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That's about a 25% increase over what the state received from the FTA in the last fiscal year. And it includes over $45 million in funding for rural transit services.

According to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the extra dollars will go toward replacing aging vehicles and hiring additional operators. It's expected that many of the new vehicles will be zero-emission, as the state pivots toward converting public fleets to be more environmentally friendly.

The increase in funding will also open the door to utilizing new technologies, including on-demand ride-sharing and cashless pay systems.

State Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette praised what he called a "bipartisan effort" to funnel money toward public transit.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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