The\u00a0U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s\u00a0Federal Transit Administration recently\u00a0awarded the\u00a0Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority under the Office of the Governor\u00a0$1.33 million\u00a0for fiscal year 2020\u00a0to continue the development of the\u00a0fixed-route system and demand response shared ride service.<\/p>\n
The grant will be used to ensure the CNMI\u2019s public transportation system continues the progress it has made to provide transportation access and services for hard-to-reach areas around Saipan, said Alfreda P. Camacho, special assistant for Public Transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere at COTA\u00a0planning, designing and constructing transportation projects as well as securing funding takes years, so we start with identifying needs, both immediate and anticipated.\u00a0Planning remains critical, and the passionate individuals who make up the COTA team\u00a0have been preparing a couple of projects to set the stage for addressing long-term needs with these new funds recently awarded to the program. My priority is to ensure that the COTA continues to progress forward with purpose and the drive to improve on the current public transportation services while actively securing other resources to help expand and develop this program for the benefit of everyone living in the CNMI,\u201d Camacho said.<\/p>\n
According to the FTA, the award\u2014amounting to $1,332,861\u2014will be used to provide operating assistance and program administration funds for COTA to \u201ccontinue to launch its \u2018first of its kind\u2019 fixed route and demand response shared ride service in addition to meet changes in demand for public transportation needs in the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said the grant award reflects the administration\u2019s commitment to progress for public transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy truly creating a public transportation system that is comprehensive and reaches the most underserved and vulnerable areas in our community, we are doing our part to provide services for our people while also freeing up funds in our local budget for other key priorities like education and healthcare,\u201d Torres said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios emphasized that public transportation is a crucial step in alleviating poverty.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOTA is doing its part to making it easier for folks to find a job, go to their medical appointments, or attend classes at the Northern Marianas College. With the progress being made on our public transportation and within our Garapan Revitalization planning efforts, private sector partners are coming together to collaborate with us on a transportation system that can get people to job opportunities and visitors to our main economic attractions.\u201d (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The\u00a0U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s\u00a0Federal Transit Administration recently\u00a0awarded the\u00a0Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority under the Office…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,460,67,16922],"class_list":["post-307688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-cota","tag-people","tag-public-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}