METRO Regional Transit Authority leaders are worried $41.9 million of federal funding for a maintenance and operations facility that is already under construction could be pulled back by government officials. It’s leading them to delay projects that would expand transit service and build affordable apartments near an Akron transit center.
Officials are wary of spending money on the new proposals until they know the maintenance and operations facility, which has a total price tag of $59 million, will be completed. The facility, which has a scheduled grand opening on Nov. 13, is largely paid for with funds from the Federal Transit Administration.
Construction on the maintenance and operations facility at 348 Kenmore Blvd. in Akron is well underway, and its completion is necessary to the successful implementation of a bus rapid transit proposal, said Gert Wilms, METRO’s legal and government affairs officer.
The existing building at 416 Kenmore Blvd. in Akron has room for half of the agency’s 235 buses, which are 20 feet or more longer than when maintenance bays were built there in the 1980s. It also lacks sufficient office space for the agency’s 400-plus employees, said METRO CEO Dawn Distler.
Until more and bigger bays are constructed, out-of-commission vehicles waiting for parts to be delivered must be towed out of the bay to make room for other buses that need to be serviced — there just isn’t enough space.
The construction of the maintenance and operation facility “ is key to making all the rest of these opportunities” work, Wilms said. “This little nucleus absolutely has to be paid for before we’re comfortable going anywhere else.”
Unlike other federal dollars that have been revoked under the administration of President Donald Trump, the money for the maintenance and operations facility has been awarded and obligated, said Jarrod Hampshire, METRO’s chief of staff. But Wilms said METRO must spend the money first, then get reimbursed, so concerns remain about whether those payments will go through.
“We don’t know what’s coming from the federal government on an hourly basis now,” Wilms said earlier this month. “The federal grant may not be funded, and we need to make sure this gets paid off.”
Concerns about changing priorities
Any time a new administration comes into office, its priorities change, Distler said. But usually, it’s just the focus of a project — an emphasis on workforce development, for example, or more interest in the environmental impact. This time is different.
Federal grant funds that would ordinarily be available for planning studies are not available now, Wilms said. And under President Joe Biden’s administration, a federal agency that could provide a key loan for METRO to build a transit-oriented development project was favorable to the agency’s idea. But there’s no telling if that has changed in recent months.
“Even if we put plans in front of the federal government, we’re not getting a lot of answers right now,” Wilms said.
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That makes METRO wary of moving forward with new projects in a volatile environment. The agency may delay the planned purchase of new buses; Distler said federal funding also helps offset those costs. In addition to not being able to take on the expenditure on its own, she said METRO wants to direct that spending toward the maintenance and operations facility, if needed.
Delaying bus purchases would result in a fleet of older vehicles that require more maintenance, Distler said. Other spending might also be pushed back if necessary.
“So far, it hasn’t affected us, per se, but you never know,” she said.
Hampshire said the uncertainty METRO is feeling has an impact on the “whole ecosystem of people that supply us” for the maintenance and operations facility and other projects.
“We don’t know what is coming,” he said. “It’s not predictable right now. We definitely haven’t gotten the, ‘It’s going to be OK,’ from anybody. We’re fairly nervous.”
In Akron, Metro’s plan for bus rapid transit
One of the projects that is furthest along is a proposal to build bus rapid transit routes in the area. The fixed-route bus lines have shelters and ticketing that are more in line with rail transit stations. They also move more quickly than traditional buses — they can have dedicated lanes that let them “jump” lines of traffic or technology that changes traffic lights to let buses come through.
A January 2024 feasibility study on bus rapid transit for METRO quotes Distler as saying, “our team is looking forward to taking the next steps to make that vision a reality.”
The proposal examined nine possible corridors for the fixed-route bus service and determined three routes warranted further study. All continued from the Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center to East Exchange Street/East Market Street to South Arlington Street. Before that, they are:
- West Market Street to the RKP Transit Center.
- State Road to Howard Street/North Main Street to the RKP Transit Center.
- Wooster Road to Kenmore Boulevard to Lake Shore Boulevard to the RKP Transit Center.
The next phase of study, Distler said, would look at how traffic would flow along each of those routes, as well as the best way to construct the service and how the project would be paid for.
That sort of study could usually get federal funding, but not now.
Once those questions are answered, Distler said, the whole project could be finished in about two years. But paired with concerns about the maintenance and operations facility, Distler said moving forward is “extremely difficult.”
In the meantime, METRO has increased the bus frequency on all routes suggested as bus rapid transit options. Each route has grown its ridership, she said, showing their potential for the service.
Transit-oriented development project is paused
A preliminary study for the transit-oriented development project was completed last May. It proposes a development near the RKP Transit Center that consists of 117 affordable apartments, METRO’s administrative offices, social services such as legal and employment assistance, and programs such as a day care, dry cleaner, dentist and a health and wellness center.
The project could cost $79.8 million, according to a preliminary estimate, but Hampshire, the chief of staff, said he expects the costs could reach $90 million with inflation and buy-American requirements.
METRO owns some of the land the project could be built on; the rest is owned by the City of Akron. METRO could just buy the land itself, Distler said — but if the agency wants federal money for the duration of the project, the federal government needs to be involved from the beginning.
Under Biden, the Federal Transit Administration signed off on the concept and was supportive of METRO’s plans, Wilms said, but an environmental review that typically takes two to three months has not come back yet — after being submitted in the last quarter of 2024.
METRO had planned to apply for a federal loan through the Build America Bureau that would cover half the project cost, but Wilms said Project 2025 — a conservative movement to reshape the federal government, much of which the Trump administration is following — “doesn’t believe in the program,” and the loan’s availability is unknown. If it isn’t an option, METRO leaders will have to reconsider how they might fund the project.
“We’re very cognizant of the fact that things can change,” Distler said. “We’re going to continue to move forward, we’re not going to stop, but we’re treading lightly.”
These kinds of projects are important, Distler said, because they give people who use public transit the option to have services nearby that can improve their lives. The transit-oriented development proposal is also an economic development project that could build a gateway to Akron’s downtown, she said, making something beneficial out of what is now a parking lot and an empty lot.
Hampshire said METRO doesn’t want to risk local dollars on the project in a time of uncertainty, but wants the project to be ready to take off the shelf and move forward whenever funding is available.
“We’re solving the transportation equity issue, housing, beautifying — that’s what we’re missing out on if we can’t do that,” he said. “There’s uncertainty with our federal partners; they don’t know what’s going on. For them not to be confident in their answers, that’s where our uncertainty comes from.”
