With the help of a federal grant, big changes are coming to Cambus that will help the University of Iowa meet sustainability goals and increase the bus system’s efficiency. 

The Federal Transit Administration awarded the University of Iowa a $16.4 million grant for improvements to the Cambus system, including the purchase of six new battery-electric buses that will help the UI reach its sustainability goals. In addition, the funds will help provide updates to the Cambus Maintenance Facility. 

Cambus is a free campus bus service founded in 1972 by UI students with six leased buses. Today, Cambus is still largely student-run and operates with 37 buses on fixed-route, on-demand, and paratransit services. 

Debby Zumbach, associate vice president and director of Parking and Transportation, says many people—including community leaders, legislators, President Barbara Wilson, and Senior Vice President Rod Lehnertz—helped support her team’s efforts to secure the grant.

“This historic grant is an incredible step forward for Cambus,” says Zumbach. “Sustainability is important to us and to the university, and we are excited to be able to meet our goals by adding these six buses to our fleet.” 

During the FTA’s annual grant cycle, more than $9 billion in funding was requested and nearly $1.5 billion was awarded to 117 projects. The UI was one of 62 recipients of the “low or no emissions” grant, which goes toward zero-emission and low-emission transit buses and the facilities that support them. 

The six new battery-electric buses will replace six of the oldest diesel Cambus buses still in use. The new vehicles are expected to arrive in 2026, and Cambus will work with the Center for Transportation and the Environment to deploy them collect data to optimize their performance. 

“Electric vehicles are the way the transit industry has been moving and investing in,” says Mia Brunelli. Cambus operations manager. “The technology has gotten to a place where it makes sense in our Cambus system, based on the routes we have, how long buses stay out on them, and how many miles we need our buses to travel. We know the university is committed to reducing greenhouse gases on campus, and these vehicles will contribute to that goal by reducing transportation emissions.”

The battery-electric buses go hand in hand with needed upgrades to the Cambus Maintenance Facility. The current facility has low ceilings and other structural barriers that do not allow for the ability to house electric buses, which are taller than current buses and require new infrastructure to power them. 

Construction on a new facility is expected to start in summer 2025 and last one year. The project will add about 20,000 square feet adjacent to the north side of the current Cambus facility on Madison Street. 

The updated space will house new Cambus maintenance bays, maintenance office and support spaces, and more training spaces. The project will also move Cambus employees working out of the West Campus Transportation Center to the Madison Street facility, which will increase efficiencies by having employees under one roof. 

 “The updated facility will create a lot of efficiencies in our scheduling, planning services, and our response time to service issues,” Brunelli says. 

In addition, it will enable Cambus to accommodate future developments.

“Other types of fuels, such as hydrogen fuel, might come along in the future and might be good for Cambus to use,” Brunelli says. “We need a facility that’s flexible enough to accommodate those types of buses, and this project will allow us to have that space.”

While fleet services also will have maintenance and offices in the new facility, that portion of the project will not be funded through the federal grant. Brunelli says Cambus and fleet services already collaborate on maintenance, and that will only be improved at the new facility. 

“We’re very excited,” Brunelli says of the future changes. “We were very focused in putting this grant application together to set Cambus up for many more years. Cambus marked 50 years in 2022, and this facility modernization and expansion and the use of alternative fuels will ensure continued success.”