A $1.75 million federal grant announced last week will help the Vineyard Transit Authority as it changes over its bus fleet to electric vehicles.
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey traveled to Martha’s Vineyard Saturday to announce the U.S. Department of Transportation grant. The money will be used to install inductive chargers underground at two bus stops.
“Church street in Edgartown is the first site, and then we’re looking at West Tisbury next,” said VTA general manager Angela Grant. “Church street will happen rather quickly. West Tisbury will happen after the summer of next year. The inductive chargers are going to be critical to the entire electrification.”
The VTA is currently operating six electric buses on Island routes. After about two months on the road, Ms. Grant said the project is progressing well.
“There is certainly a learning curve,” Ms. Grant said. “There are a lot of variables to review. We have a significant amount of data to collect and go through to figure out the most efficient way to drive them.”
The VTA expects to add four more electric buses to the fleet next spring.
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