As urban areas worldwide transition toward a smart cities paradigm of planning and governance, the integration of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interactions into microgrids is a crucial step to support the decarbonization of transportation systems; yet this transition must also prioritize overall grid resilience. The transition from liquid fuels to electricity presents many challenges – including the risk of relying on utility power supplies that are becoming increasingly expensive, yet also increasingly prone to outages in many regions. On-site microgrids integrating solar, battery storage, and backup generation can offer a cheaper, cleaner, and more resilient way to power electric transit fleets, and working with microgrid providers can significantly de-risk their transition overall. This panel will illustrate the benefits of using microgrids to enable transit electrification.