DART gets $7.6 million from feds to buy 7 all-electric buses for downtown-Oak Cliff D-Link

Dallas Area Rapid Transit spokesman Morgan Lyons says we'll have more details soon. But for now, here's the takeaway: The Federal Transit Admission just announced

it's giving the transit agency $7,637,111

to purchase seven all-electric buses as part of

its D-Link fleet serving downtown and North Oak Cliff

.

The big money is heading to Dallas as part of the FTA's Low and No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program, which is spreading $54.5 million across 10 cities to "deploy the cleanest and most energy efficient U.S.-made transit buses." Six of those grants will involve purchasing buses from

Greenville, South Carolina-based Proterra

, for whom today turned out to be quite the payday. (

From Slat

e: Proterra "has raised more than $100 million in venture capital money. But the company does depend indirectly on public funding provided by the Obama administration. Its customers, which are all public agencies, have relied on stimulus funds and TIGER grants to purchase the vehicles." Also, each bus runs about $825,000.)

But don't expect these new buses any time soon: "We hope to have them here in the next year," says Lyons, meaning 2016. At least, he says, "that's the plan."

We'll have more shortly, as soon as DART sends its what-for. But in a statement released to media, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says "the Obama Administration is committed to investing in 21st century transportation solutions like these zero emission buses. These innovative, energy-efficient buses will help increase efficiency, improve air quality and reduce our nation’s dependence on oil."

No word on whether the grant will help the D-Link buses stick to their schedules.