Transportation For America House bill proposes $15 billion for transit. It’s not enough

House bill proposes $15 billion for transit. It’s not enough

13 May 2020 | Posted by Transportation for America | 4 Comments | congress, COVID-19, transit cuts

Democrats in the House of Representatives only included $15 billion for transit in their next COVID-19 relief bill. That’s not enough—we need double that to ensure that transit survives this crisis. Send a message to your congressional delegation urging them to support $32 billion for transit.

Yesterday, Democrats in the House of Representatives released their next COVID-19 relief bill that only includes $15 billion in emergency operating support for public transportation. That’s a start, but not enough to ensure that transit agencies can keep their workers healthy and safely return to service when this pandemic subsides. We know that transit needs more.

Take action

In March, research group TransitCenter estimated that transit agencies would experience losses between $26-$38 billion this year due to impacts from COVID-19. That range seemed huge at first, but no longer: agencies are predicting losses that far outstrip the emergency funding they received from the federal government.

That’s why we’re asking Congress to double the amount for transit in the House bill and approve $32 billion in emergency operating support. That number is based on an estimate from a coalition of transit-related unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Association (MTA).

We need you to send a message to your congressional delegation urging them to support $32 billion to support transit through the end of 2021.

Are you an elected official? Or do you represent an organization? You can also sign our coalition letter to Congressional leadership. We are sending this letter this Friday before the House votes, so time is of the essence if your organization wants to join this letter.

If we don’t act now, millions of Americans—including millions of essential workers, such as nurses and grocery clerks—will lose access to jobs, healthcare, and other critical services. And any long-term economic recovery will be nearly impossible without transit service to help people safely get back to work as this unprecedented crisis subsides.

We give $40 billion to states every year to build highways. In this moment of extraordinary need, transit requires $32 billion to keep running through 2021. That’s an investment well worth making.

We can’t afford for transit to stop running, or be unable to pick up when the economy does. We need Congress to act, but time is short. Send your message today!

4 Comments

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Don McMillan
4 years ago

I thank http://www.linkedin.com/company/smart-growth-america for flagging this appeal for me. To me, supporting an essential service for essential workers (who during pandemic restart become a much wider swath of industries and occupations) is more of an investment than a bailout. Transit and transit-friendly development are important in my view for developing cities that work for all.
John
4 years ago

Actually its far too much. Not a dime more of spending on this nonsense. States should provide transit on 100 percent state funds, that’s not the feds job. Learn basic math, as we can’t simply print money for transit systems that always want handouts and fail to be transparent with their books, and opening their CAFRs. Re-manufacture rather than buy new buses. And quit buying equipment from the Chinese. Then MAYBE doing that for 10 years consistently, more funds will be awarded by the voters.