So here’s the call: Did you get a job or keep a job by virtue of the spending on transit in the stimulus? We want to hear from you and hear your story. Are you building railcars or buses? Some other part of the supply chain for transit?

Share your story with us directly at info@t4america.org. And pass this along to anyone you know who might have a story to share with us.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is (rightfully) touting the great news on his blog this morning that the Federal Transit Administration met their ambitious deadline for distributing 100% of the transit funds from the stimulus package. That’s great news, but it should be accompanied by the sobering reminder that these public transportation systems that get people to work each day largely couldn’t use that money to keep from having to cut service at a time when it’s needed the most.

The FTA has now doled out 881 grants totaling $7.5 billion since the stimulus was signed last year, and LaHood notes that these grants have funded the purchase of nearly 12,000 buses, vans and rail vehicles; construction or renovation of more than 850 transit facilities; and $620 million in preventive maintenance to keep systems running smoothly.

But what about the hundreds of agencies cutting back service, raising fares, or laying off workers — like the terrible story from Atlanta we chronicled last Friday, where 25-30% of all service may be history come June?

Unfortunately, the FTA’s hands were tied with the rules for the grants set by Congress, which meant that almost all of the money had to be used to purchase new equipment or perform maintenance, even if those agencies couldn’t afford to hire or train the new drivers to operate the buses or railcars. We say “most of the money,” because a group of lawmakers were able to successfully include a provision in a separate bill during the summer that made it possible for local transit agencies to spend up to 10% of their transit stimulus money on operations. But in many places like St. Louis, where the deficit was ten times the $4.6 million they could now spend on service, that’s not enough to keep from having to make drastic cuts or lay workers off, even while getting an influx of federal money.

With a full transportation bill likely months away, in the short term we need to urge the Senate to include money in any future jobs bills to help keep transit systems running.

With millions who depend on these systems each day to get to work, making sure that reliable transit service doesn’t disappear will help get them to their jobs quickly and conveniently each day, ensuring that many of them stay employed.

With most of the stimulus money flowing through state DOTs that don’t always prioritize spending in metropolitan areas, that’s probably not surprising.

But he found a different story entirely when he and his colleagues examined the $1.5 billion in TIGER grants announced earlier this week. He writes:

But what about the geographic spread? Over 80 percent of the projects and 70 percent of total TIGER funding is targeted to the 100 largest metro areas. That’s not just the super-large places like New York and Chicago, but also important metros like Louisville, Tulsa, and Providence.

As Washington considers the additional steps needs to retain and create jobs, the TIGER’s recognition of the economic primacy of U.S. metropolitan area should be illustrative.

The Obama Department of Transportation today broke historic ground in unveiling projects chosen in a first-ever program to award federal dollars on a competitive basis to innovative projects that address economic, environmental and travel issues at once.

The 51 projects announced under the TIGER grant program, funded by $1.5 billion included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), meet a broad array of challenges, including:

• Bridge replacements in Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Indiana that can support multiple modes of travel;
• Port and freight-rail projects to spur economic growth in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Ohio;
• Modern streetcar construction to support vibrant urban corridors in Tucson, Dallas, Portland and New Orleans and light rail in Detroit;
• Innovative highway funding and operations in Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, South Carolina and Arkansas;
• Bicycle and pedestrian networks in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and a complete streets project in Dubuque, IA;
• The long-awaited rebirth of New York’s former Penn Station as Moynihan Station.

“These are the kinds of projects that will create good paying jobs, spur local economic development, revive our city centers and create regional integrated transportation solutions,” said John Robert Smith, the co-chair of T4 America and former Mayor of Meridian, Mississippi. “Today’s announcement clearly shows the administration’s commitment to supporting livability initiatives in metropolitan regions, smaller communities and rural areas alike.”

A complete list of recipients can be found on the US DOT press release.

Project applications had to show multiple benefits, with priority give to these criteria: 1) that projects improve the condition of existing facilities and systems, 2) contribute to the economic competitiveness of the U.S. over the medium- to long-term, 3) improve the quality of living and working environments for people, 4) improve energy efficiency, reduce dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit the environment, and 5) improve public safety.

Secretary LaHood spoke from Kansas City, showcasing the city’s Green Impact Zone, an area of high unemployment and concentrated poverty that is being revitalized with green buildings, clean transportation options including public transportation and bicycle and pedestrian projects.

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood noted that the program was extraordinarily sought-after, garnering 1,400 applications totaling nearly $60 billion for the $1.5 billion pot. “The sheer popularity of this ground-breaking approach is testament to how many states and localities are struggling to build innovative projects that simply don’t happen under the pre-existing program,” Mayor Smith said.

“We hope this is a glimpse of what the next transportation authorization could look like,” Smith added. “Congress needs to build on this success and authorize the surface transportation program along similar lines to support innovation and integrated transportation solutions in communities of all sizes.”

The Economic Policy Institute ran the numbers on Transportation for America’s jobs proposal and concluded that our plan for increased transportation spending would create 480,000 jobs.

The Senate’s first jobs bill currently has no money for transportation, other than a transfer of general fund dollars to cover the looming gap in the Highway Trust Fund while extending the transportation bill (SAFETEA-LU) until the end of the year. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is said to be planning several separate bills, one of which may focus on transportation).

Our proposed package for Congress directs $34.3 billion toward a mix of public transportation, highways and bicycle and pedestrian projects, closely resembling EPI’s own plan. Our proposal contains roughly $16 billion for transit, $8.1 billion for the Surface Transportation Program (highways), $9.8 billion for competitive grants (like the TIGER grants announced today) and $1.5 billion for Active Transportation such as bike and pedestrian facilities to make walking and biking safer and more attractive.

(View the full detailed T4 America proposal here.)

According to EPI’s analysis, the Transportation for America proposal is especially strong at job creation for low-wage earners and Americans without a college degree. The plan is also effective at creating jobs for African-Americans and Hispanic workers, two demographic groups that have borne a disproportionate share of the economic downturn’s effects.

Ethan Pollack, a policy analyst for EPI, characterizes T4 America’s approach as “a well-tailored package of transportation investments” that can “help put people back to work.” The EPI numbers do not account for the increased consumer spending that will result from these newly employed Americans.

As the U.S. Senate continues to piece together its job-creation legislation, we encourage members to strongly consider substantial investment in infrastructure repair and money to keep transit systems running. Jobs legislation continues to create an opening for increased accountability and benchmarks for federal transportation policy, laying the foundation for more jobs and greater prosperity down the road.

For information about EPI’s report and to obtain a complete copy, click here: http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib271/

And click here to tell your Senators that they must include money for keeping our vital transit systems running with any jobs package.

With a 1/3 of the money out the door already, the stimulus was able to work, in part, because the money was spent relatively quickly. But spending money quickly often relies on formulas and methods that are outdated, or — as evidenced in a report last month by the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Good Jobs First —  inequitable. Minority-owned businesses have received only 10.2 percent of stimulus funds toward federal contracts, while women-owned businesses received 5.9 percent.

There were similar shortcomings at the state level. The head of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has said he was “not aware of a single one of our members who’s received a contract related to the stimulus package.”  In Colorado, the Denver Post reported that the state Department of Transportation failed to meet its minority hiring target of 7.5 percent.

These numbers have been noticed in Washington.  The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing Democratic leaders to make sure the in-progress jobs bill provides real relief to many of their majority-minority districts, and President Obama has pressed governors to step up their efforts as well. If and when the Senate takes up job-creation legislation similar to the House version passed in December, it will provide an opening to learn from the stimulus and ensure everyone takes part in America’s economic recovery.

Smart Growth America released a report today examining how well states have been spending these billions. As they say on the Smart Growth America blog today, not only did the money arrive in a time of economic recession, but “at a time of embarrassingly large backlogs of road and bridge repairs, inadequate and underfunded public transportation systems, and too-few convenient, affordable transportation options.”

So after 120 days, how have states done in addressing these pressing needs and investing in progress for their communities?

After analyzing project descriptions provided by states and MPOs, Smart Growth America found forward looking states and communities that used the stimulus money as flexibly as possible, repairing roads and bridges and making the kinds of smart, 21st century transportation investments that their communities need to support strong economic growth.

Other states and communities missed this golden opportunity to create jobs while making progress on their most pressing transportation needs. These states spent their precious funds on building new roads rather than repairing existing roads, and ignored the chance to spend the money flexibly on the kinds of options that their residents really want — like public transportation or streets safe for walking and biking — leaving their communities stuck in traffic and stuck in the past.

…Despite the golden opportunity of extra funding, most states did not use the opportunity to make as much progress as possible on long-term goals. Even though repair backlogs can stretch years or decades into the future, nearly one-third of the money, $6.6 billion, went towards roadway new capacity projects. At a time when public transportation ridership is hitting all-time highs and the budget crunch is causing transit agencies to cut routes, service and jobs, an abysmal 2.8% was spent on public transportation. Only 0.9% percent was spent on non-motorized projects (i.e., bike and pedestrian projects).

Read more about the report and download the full version from Smart Growth America.

(On that note, Recovery.gov also launched today, where anyone can track where the stimulus money is being spent.)

A notable excerpt from the middle of LaHood’s release:

—

We will use the transportation funding in the Act to deliver jobs and restore our nation’s economy.  We will emphasize sustainable investment and focus our policies on the people, businesses and communities who use the transportation systems.  And, we will focus on the quality of our environment.  We will build and restore our transportation foundations until the American dream is returned.

We will invest in jobs to expand transit capacity and modernize transit systems.  Transit is a centerpiece of my focus on livable communities and our Department will work closely with Vice President Biden’s “Middle-class Taskforce” on transit initiatives.

We will invest in jobs to allow Amtrak to add and modernize cars and engines and upgrade its tracks.

We will invest in jobs to expand airport capacity and make safety improvements.

We will invest in jobs to build and rehabilitate and make safer roads, highways, bridges and ports.

And we will invest in jobs to launch high-speed rail in America. This will transform intercity transportation in America, reduce our carbon footprint, relieve congestion on the roads and in the skies, and take advantage of a mode of transportation that has already benefited Europe and Japan for many years.

There are those who argue that we need to waive environmental regulations to put people to work more quickly, but that is simply not the case. We have a backlog of worthwhile transportation projects waiting for funding that have already met those standards. We are ready to build a new transportation infrastructure and we will work to keep it green.

I have met with state officials and other transportation stakeholders, and we have discussed how the money can be spent quickly to create jobs on projects that make long-term sense for our transportation systems in communities across the nation. We also reviewed the need for transparency and full accountability on this spending. We will do things by the book.

Read Transportation For America’s full summary of the provisions and funding requirements for transportation in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Download this full document (.doc)

Surface Transportation Program

The conference agreement provides $27,500,000,000, instead of $30,000,000,000 as proposed by the House and $27,060,000,000 as proposed by the Senate.

• 50% of funds distributed to State DOTs by STP formula
• 50% of funds distributed to States under the FY08 obligation
• State DOTs have 120 days to use the funds or lose them to other States, but they can petition DOT for a one-year extension.
• 30% of all State funds are suballocated to local areas, which are not subject to the use-it or lose-it redistribution requirements.
• 3% set aside for Transportation Enhancements.
• There is no requirement to prioritize repair and maintenance; project selection priority is given to projects that can be completed within 3 years and are located in economically distressed areas.
  • Flexibility provided to State DOTs to fund passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects.
• $60 million included as discretionary capital grants by USDOT for projects that can be completed in 2 years.
• $40,000,000 included for DOT oversight and administration.

Passenger and Freight Rail Programs

The conference agreement provides:

• $8,000,000,000 for high-speed rail corridors and intercity passenger rail service. Funds are allocated by DOT between the Capital Assistance to States program and a new High Speed Passenger Rail program.
• Projects do not have to be in a state rail plan and there is a 100% federal share.
• DOT will submit a strategic funding plan within 60 days and issue interim guidance covering grant terms, conditions and procedures within 120 days.
• $1,300,000,000 for AMTRAK instead of $800,000,000 in the House and $850,000,000 in the Senate. Of the total funds, $450,000,000 is for capital grants for security improvements. No more than 60% of the remaining funds shall be spent for capital improvements on the Northeast Corridor.

Transit

The conference agreement provides:

• $6,900,000,000 for transit capital projects instead of $8,400,000,000 proposed by the Senate and $7,500,000,000 proposed by the House.
  • 80% allocated by FTA urbanized formula, 10% is FTA rural, and 10% is FTA growing states and high-density formula.
  • Includes $100,000,000 (instead of the $200,000,000 proposed by the Senate) for discretionary grants to public transit agencies for capital investments that will assist in reducing the energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions of their public transit agencies.
  • Transit agencies have 180 days to use the funds or lose them to other States, but they can petition DOT for a one year extension.
• $750,000,000 instead of $2,000,000,000 as proposed by the House for Rail Modernization and Repair
  • Funds also have 180 day use-it or lose-it provisions.
• $750,000,000 instead of $2,500,000,000 in House for New Starts and Small Starts projects that are? already in construction or are nearly ready to begin construction.
  • Priority for projects already under construction or able to obligate within 150 days. The funds are available through Sept. 30, 2012.

Supplemental Discretionary Grants

$1,500,000,000 instead of $5,500,000,000 proposed by the Senate for projects with national, metropolitan, or regional significance.

• Continues intermodal focus, noting interstate and bridge maintenance and repair, freight and passenger rail, intermodal ports, and new starts/small starts are specifically eligible.
• Changes funding eligibility to include transit agencies directly.
• Projects that require less than a 100% Federal share are prioritized.
• DOT selection criteria will be published within 90 days; projects nominated within 180 days; and the winners selected within 1 year. Projects must be complete within 3 years.
• The program includes $1.5 million for DOT administration and oversight.

Other key elements in the bill related to transportation:

Recovery Zone Bonds

Creates a new category of tax credit bonds for investment in economic recovery zones. Authorizes $10 billion in recovery zone economic development bonds and $15 billion in recovery zone facility bonds to be issued during 2009 and 2010. Each state would receive a share of the national allocation based on that state’s job losses in 2008 as a percentage of national job losses in 2008 (each state will receive a minimum allocation of these bonds) which will be sub-allocated to local municipalities. The funds may be spent to invest in infrastructure, job training, education, and economic development in areas within the boundaries of the State, city or county (as the case may be) that has significant poverty, unemployment or home foreclosures. This proposal is estimated to cost $5.371 billion over 10 years.

Modify Speed Requirement for High-Speed Rail Exempt Facility Bonds

Under current law, States are allowed to issue private activity bonds for high-speed rail facilities as long as the facility will transport passengers between metropolitan areas using vehicles that are reasonably expected to operate at speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour between scheduled stops. This provision would allow these bonds to be used to develop rail facilities that are used by trains that are capable of attaining speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour. This proposal is estimated to cost $288 million over 10 years.

Infrastructure Financing Tools – Tax Credit Bond Option for State and Local Governments (“Build America Bonds”)

The Federal government provides significant financial support to State and local governments through the federal tax exemption for interest on municipal bonds, which reduces the cash interest payments that a State or local government must make on its debt. Tax credit bonds differ from tax-exempt bonds in two principal ways: (1) interest paid on tax credit bonds is taxable; and (2) a portion of the interest paid on tax credit bonds takes the form of a Federal tax credit. The Federal tax credit offsets a portion of the cash interest payment that the State or local government would otherwise need to make on the borrowing. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide State and local governments with the option of issuing a tax credit bond instead of a tax-exempt governmental obligation bond. Because the market for tax credits is currently small given current economic conditions, the bill would allow the State or local government to elect to receive a direct payment from the Federal government equal to the subsidy that would have otherwise been delivered through the Federal tax credit for bonds. This proposal is estimated to cost $4.348 billion over 10 years.

Reinvestment in Renewable Energy – Parity for Transit Benefits

Current law provides a tax-free fringe benefit employers can provide to employees for transit and parking. Those benefits are set at different dollar amounts. This provision would equalize the tax-free benefit employers can provide for transit and parking. The proposal sets both the parking and transit benefits at $230 a month for 2009, indexes them equally for 2010, and clarifies that certain transit benefits apply to federal employees. This provision is estimated to cost $192 million over ten years.