15 events around the country today highlight the devastating impact of the House’s initial transportation proposal that would make a 35 percent cut to public transportation. Today is the “Don’t X Out Public Transportation” day of action to highlight the crippling impacts of the proposed 35 percent cut to public transit. The events are being held in 15 cities in cooperation with the American Public Transportation Association and a number of key partners to let Congress know that deep cuts mean Americans losing their jobs or their ability to get to their jobs, as well as groceries and essential services.

Events across the country next Tuesday will highlight the devastating potential impacts on public transportation contained in the House’s initial negotiating point on the full transportation bill. While the House and Senate agreement this week on a clean six-month extension of the current transportation program offers a temporary reprieve from deep cuts, advocates remain rightly concerned [...]

Demand for mass transit is surging everywhere as a result of higher gas prices, generating the need for 670 million additional passenger trips on transit systems. With the nation’s comprehensive surface transportation bill overdue for renewal, this ought to lend greater urgency to the need for robust investment in an array of options to ensure no one gets stranded or left behind.

A new study by Duke University illuminates the fact that thousands of green jobs are waiting to be tapped in transit bus manufacturing — if the federal government will make a sustained commitment to investing in public transportation. Jobs in and related to public transportation are some of the lowest hanging fruit in the push for green jobs, so what’s keeping the domestic manufacturing industry from ramping up?

Thousands of transit experts and enthusiastics descend on San Diego for an event on the future of public transportation. (San Diego Union-Tribune — Steve Schmidt)

The American Public Transportation Association reports that 65 percent of transit agencies questioned for a survey are unable to provide more service, and another 85 percent are having problems with capacity. (Chicago Tribune — John Hilkevitch)

Recently released numbers from the American Public Transportation Association reveal that Americans took 2.8 billion rides on mass transit from April through June — up 5.2 percent from the same period last year. But with underfunded transit agencies struggling to pay the bills, fare hikes or service cuts could be coming soon.

American Public Transportation Association study says that Seattle drivers would save $8,413 a year by trading in their cars for transit passes. (Seattle Post Intelligencer — Gregory Roberts and Evi Sztajno)