Hill Country Transit District

Hill Country Transit District, doing business as The Hop, is a non-profit public transportation provider operating as a federal grant recipient under the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), with 100 prime grant awards and 22 sub-grant awards across formula and capital programs totaling $193.8 million obligated since 1999. The organization serves nine counties in Central Texas—including Coryell, Lampasas, Milam, Bell, Hamilton, Llano, Mason, Mills, and San Saba—delivering fixed-route bus services, ADA-compliant paratransit, and demand-responsive microtransit solutions across the Killeen and Temple urbanized areas.

The Hop's grant portfolio is entirely FTA-funded through three primary programs: the Federal Transit Formula Grants program (CFDA 20.507), the Buses and Bus Facilities Formula, Competitive, and Low or No Emissions Programs (CFDA 20.526), and the Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program (CFDA 20.513). Representative prime grants from 2025–2026 include a $5.344 million operating-assistance and preventive-maintenance award for the Killeen urbanized area (CFDA 20.507, awarded May 13, 2026), a $4.377 million operating-assistance grant for the Temple area (CFDA 20.507, awarded May 13, 2026), a $1.88 million vehicle-procurement award for microtransit fleet implementation in Killeen and Temple (CFDA 20.507, awarded September 12, 2025), and a $381,497 operating-assistance and ADA paratransit grant under the Enhanced Mobility program (CFDA 20.513, awarded June 19, 2026). Capital-equipment grants supporting facility improvements and vehicle replacement range from $102,307 to $793,789 under CFDA 20.526. All prime awards carry no subrecipient activity; The Hop executes work directly with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) pass-through administration. Sub-grant awards, issued by TxDOT as of 2024–2025, cover rural transit operations across the nine-county service area, fleet replacement with funding from Section 5311 rural-transit programs and Section 5339 bus-facilities programs, and soft-match contributions (typically at 80/20 or 85/15 federal-to-local ratios) for associated federal awards.

Activity has grown substantially: four awards per year in 2022–2023 accelerated to 21 in 2024 and 13 in 2025, with eight awards obligated in 2026 as of mid-June. Twelve awards are scheduled to reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure for the organization. The Hop competes exclusively within the FTA formula-grant ecosystem; no private federal contract vehicles, IDIQs, GWACs, or BPAs appear in the award record. Customer concentration is total: the Federal Transit Administration accounts for 100% of the 100 prime awards and all sub-grant activity, with no other federal agencies in the portfolio. The organization's operating and capital strategy centers on maintaining safe, reliable transit service in rural and small-urban Central Texas corridors, modernizing aging fleet assets, and transitioning underperforming fixed-route operations to flexible microtransit platforms using software platforms and capital equipment funded through FTA discretionary and formula allocations.