The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced this week its support of an amendment proposed by U.S. Sens. Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Doug Jones (D-AL) to block an impending $1.2 billion cut to public transportation investment.
Under the current Federal Transit Administration public transit formula apportionments, APTA noted that every state in the nation stands to take a 12 percent hit to public transit agency funding — losses that would quickly mount. Vermont, which stands to lose the least, would lose more than $1.4 million. California could lose more than $175 million, and New York more than $195 million.
“Each day across the country, public transit systems provide service to millions of Americans,” Paul Skoutelas, president and CEO of APTA, said. “The industry faces a more than $90 billion backlog of state-of-good-repair needs, and this 12 percent cut would impact millions of Americans in an adverse way, cutting them off from jobs, local businesses, and medical services.”
The cuts would be automatic, supposing the amendment fails to pass. They would hit a variety of areas, including the maintenance and replacement of buses; low-income, elderly and people with disabilities transportation support; capital and planning for rural community transit; workforce development programs and public transit facility construction, among others.