Provide funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the city of austin

This Cooperative Agreement award, provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CFDA 66.046) program, will fund the City of Austin to implement greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction initiatives identified in a priority climate action plan. The $47,854,062 award from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2029 will support three key measures: 1) Improving regional transit service and equity in low-income and disadvantaged communities ($10M to CapMetro and $2.5M to Capital Area Rural Transportation Service), 2) Investing in mobility infrastructure like mobility hubs ($5M), and 3) Inspiring behavior change through commute tools, subsidies, and marketing campaigns. The anticipated outcomes include GHG emissions reductions, improved air quality, increased transit ridership and bike trips, and expanded air quality monitoring coverage.

Description

The purpose of this award is to provide funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the city of austin. The recipient will implement greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction programs, policies, projects, and measures identified in a priority climate action plan (pcap) developed under a climate pollution reduction grants (cprg) planning grant. Activities conducted through this grant will benefit all residents and visitors to the city of austin and surrounding areas through four main objectives: implementation of ambitious measures that will achieve significant cumulative GHG reductions by 2030 and beyond; pursuit of measures that will achieve substantial community benefits, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities; complementing other funding sources to maximize these GHG reductions and community benefits; and, pursuit of innovative policies and programs that are replicable and can be 'scaled up' across multiple jurisdictions. Activities:the activities include three measures as follows: 1. Improving regional transit service: dedicated measure to manage transportation demand during the multi-year disruptions that will be caused by the construction of mobility corridor upgrades. This will reduce vehicles miles traveled (VMT) and increase equity by improving transit service in low-income and disadvantage communities (lidacs). 2. Investing in mobility infrastructure: development of eight mobility hubs and other supportive infrastructure for people to access transit, private shuttles, bike share, micro-mobility, and carpool/vanpool meetup points. This will reduce VMT and increase equity by improving mobility infrastructure in lidacs. 3.inspiring behavior change: commute tools that include trip and route planning, carpool matching, and emergency rides home. Subsidies, incentives, and rewards for commuters to take transit, ride bikes, walk, carpool, or choose not to drive. Partnerships with employers to support flexible scheduling and remote work. Large-scale multilingual marketing and communications campaign informing communities (especially those impacted by major construction projects) of their low-GHG mobility alternatives. This campaign would also include grassroots, multilingual, community-based outreach, and partnerships with local community-based organizations to develop personalized low-GHG travel planning for hard-to-reach communities, such as lidacs. This will reduce VMT by kickstarting behavior change to adapt to construction impacts and build cultural acceptance of non-single occupancy vehicle (SOV) modes.subrecipient:capmetro service frequency improvements and transit reliability funding to cost $2,000,000 per year for a total of $10,000,000 over the five-year period. Capital area rural transportation service frequency and transit reliability funding to cost $500,000 per year for a total of $2,500,000 over the five-year period. Mobility hub shuttle transportation service funding to cost $1,000,000 per year for a total of $5,000,000 over the five-year period. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include an increase in transit service frequency, improved mobility hubs, bike parking locations, and monitoring infrastructure, and an increase in residents engaged and incentives distributed. The expected outcomes include a reduction in cumulative metric tons of GHG emissions from 2025 through calendar year 2050. A reduction in annual amounts of criteria air pollutants (cap) and/or hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emissions in general and in lidacs from 2025 through calendar year 2050. An increase in passenger ridership, an increase in bike trips made, increased coverage of local and regional air quality index (AQI) monitoring network, and an increase in percent of land area covered by local and regional AQI monitoring infrastructure. Also these deliverables will reduce vehicle miles traveled, number of trips taken with a transport wallet will be available, and there will be an incre