(BIVN) – On Thursday, the Federal Transit Administration announced that the State of Hawai‘i will receive a $6.5 million grant to purchase new buses for Kauai and Hawai‘i Island.

“Investing in new buses for Hawai‘i Island means that the residents who depend on them to get to school or work every day will continue to have an affordable way to get around,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation says the ten new buses will be used on the Hilo-to-South Kohala Resort commuter routes, the newly created East Hawai‘i-to-West Hawai‘i commuter routes via Saddle Road, the Pahoa commuter route, and the Hilo intra-city routes.

Sen. Schatz office says the FTA’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program “is to assist in the financing of buses and bus facilities capital projects, including replacing, rehabilitating, purchasing or leasing buses or related equipment, and rehabilitating, purchasing, constructing or leasing bus-related facilities.”