Federal Officials Tour St. Cloud Bus Plant, Tout $1.5B Transit Funding

(KNSI) – Two top federal officials visited New Flyer’s bus manufacturing plant in St. Cloud on Thursday to kick off a nationwide tour promoting new transportation funding.

Congressman Tom Emmer and Marc Molinaro, who runs the Federal Transit Administration, came to highlight benefits from recently passed federal legislation that supporters call the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The new law provides $1.5 billion in grants that cities and transit agencies across the country can use to buy new buses. The legislation also extends tax cuts from President Trump’s first term, which officials say will help manufacturers like New Flyer hire more workers and grow their operations.

New Flyer President and CEO Paul Soubry joined the officials for a behind-the-scenes look at how the company builds buses and said the law is what he’s looking for. “This is absolutely the right thing to do for our industry. Buses move people between cities and inside cities. We’re pretty excited about where we go from here.”

Molinaro emphasized how important buses are to public transportation. “The bus is the workhorse of the American public transit system. What they build here at New Flyer is critically important, not only to moving Americans, but moving America.”

During the visit, Congressman Emmer criticized expensive light rail projects, specifically mentioning Minnesota’s North Star Line and a proposed Blue Line light rail between Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park. “It’s about time we start to recognize it’s not about the kind of public transit, it’s about smart public transit,” Emmer said. “Spending $3.2 billion on 13 miles of track is not a smart thing to do. Think about what that $3.2 billion could do with express bus lines.”

Emmer said Congress wants to lower construction costs, let local agencies choose what works best for their communities, and reduce regulations that make it expensive and difficult for companies to build transportation systems.

The St. Cloud facility produces four buses daily and employs 977 people. The company is currently building buses for 18 different customers, including the cities of Minneapolis, San Diego, New York/New Jersey, and Vancouver.

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