WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTAJ) — U.S. Senator John Fetterman joined colleagues on Wednesday to introduce a bill that would cut red tape and reform the domestic bus manufacturing industry.

The bipartisan Bus Rolling Stock Modernization Act would help reform by providing more flexibility for local transit systems when purchasing buses. Current U.S. standards impose outdated, 40-year-old payment practices on our bus manufacturers and purchasers, which result in unnecessarily high costs. According to Fetterman, many domestic bus manufacturers have gone bankrupt or left the market, despite high demand for new vehicles.


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The Bus Rolling Stock Modernization Act would allow bus manufacturers to apply for advanced payments up to 20%, enabling them to invest in the labor and machinery needed to meet demand of transit agencies and keep production costs down.

“My office has heard from countless transit agencies across Pennsylvania—both the largest ones in our cities to smaller ones that serve our rural communities—about how hard it is to acquire new buses,” Senator Fetterman said. “This bill will help change that by giving agencies more flexibility when purchasing buses. Strong transit agencies are critical to making sure our communities are strong. I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill that will mean transit agencies across the commonwealth can better serve Pennsylvanians.”

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Fetterman previously introduced the Transit Emergency Relief Act in October, which would improve the Federal Transit Administration’s Emergency Response Program so that transit agencies can provide emergency-level responses when disaster strikes.