What will it take to fund BRT?
Based upon the refinement of RFTA's VelociRFTA BRT project during 2009 and 2010, RFTA is updating its estimated capital costs for the VelociRFTA BRT project. At the time RFTA's Very Small Starts grant application was submitted to the Federal Transit Administration in the summer of 2008, the estimated total capital costs for the project were approximately $46.4 million. The Very Small Starts grant program limits projects to a maximum capital cost of $50 million, with a federal share of no more than $25 million. RFTA believes that the updated VelociRFTA BRT project capital costs should fit within these parameters.
Implementation of facilities and operations of BRT will require to come from a mix of sources:
-
Voter-approved
sales tax collected by RFTA members
-
Voter-approved bonds (the 2008 ballot initiative authorized RFTA to issue bonds for up to $44.55 million; of that amount, $27.5 million was issued in 2009 and the remaining $17 million will be issued in the future)
- A $25 million Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) Very Small Starts grant
