Seventy-four percent of Americans believe Congress should increase public transportation spending, and 75 percent say public transportation is an important option for daily commuters, according to a survey by the Mineta Transportation Institute National Transportation Finance Center and Social Science Research Center.
Additionally, 80 percent of respondents support the use of tax dollars for creating, expanding, and improving public transportation. That same percentage said public transportation helps communities flourish and helps people connect with education, work opportunities, and medical facilities.
“Americans understand that investment in public transportation is an essential element to help their communities grow,” Paul P. Skoutelas, American Public Transportation Association (APTA) president and CEO, said. “Public transit garners this overwhelming support because it is an important link to connect employees to jobs, customers to businesses, and to the things that improve peoples’ quality of life.”
So far this year, the federal government has appropriated $13.5 billion for public transit and has awarded $2.8 billion in intercity passenger rail grants.
This exceeds the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
APTA is optimistic bi-partisan efforts will continue, Skoutelas said, as the Senate and House have introduced their 2019 budgets.
The survey of 1,201 people nationwide was conducted on behalf of APTA.