The Division of Public Transportation may either directly administer or indirectly pass-through grants from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The information below describes the programs, provides links to Department of Transportation FTA web sites for technical and additional information. Each is linked under Chapter 49 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations and its title. The related FTA Circulars providing additional guidance. FTA grants applications are overseen by the Division of Public Transportation for Section 5310, Sections 5311 and 5311(f), Section 5316 and Section 5317. All grant programs and subrecipients are subject to the terms of the state's Master Agreement with FTA and DOT.

Each year the Division of Public Transportation announces the opportunity to apply for federal funds provided through the Idaho Transportation Department to potential applicants through advertisement in the legal notice. A mailing list is kept for inform individuals in writing when the Department announces grant openings when federal funds become accessible. Interested organizations receiving an announcement must respond if they wish to receive a hard copy and/or electronic version of the Program Guide and which Application(s). Applications are updated and released to the public upon announcement.

In 2006, the Division changed the dates for grant announcement, release and award to coincide with the State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) so that all FTA and FHWA projects could be reported and budgeted a common timeline. This requires FTA grant applications to be submitted in March in one year to be able to receive funds on April 1st of the next year.

Normally, applications will be due in mid-March of each year, all organizations submitting applications must also continue to comply with preceding mandatory requirements such as issuing legal notices of their application, preparing locally developed human service-public transit coordination plans and, simultaneously sending letters to other carriers in the service area who may be affected by their grant proposal, and attending the district public meetings in February or early March as announced in their legal notice to provide an opportunity for public hearing and hear public comment.