US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Congressman Brian Higgins, State Sen. Tim Kennedy, State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, and others broke ground on the new electric bus charging station at the East Side garage. The $8 million upgrade will be able to rapidly charge up to fifty battery-electric buses, and easily scaled to twice that, making it the most ambitious charging program in the state.

The facility will be ready in the spring of 2022, just in time for Metro to take delivery of its first twenty electric buses. Funds supporting this project came from New York State, the Federal Transit Administration and National Grid. The latter, along with the New York Power Authority, have added their expertise to the design and construction of the facility upgrades.