A new report from Transportation for America has found that for the United States to have a transit system that is on par with the rest of the world would require a $230 billion investment across all levels of government every year for the next 20 years.
The report, World-Class American Transit, looked at the level of investment needed to create world-class transit service in each of the 452 U.S. urbanized areas with populations over 50,000. Those communities, home to 65 percent of the U.S. population, operate on average 27 transit vehicles per 100,000 residents. The average set in 17 cities globally is more than 130 transit vehicles in service per 100,000 residents, the report found.
“Americans deserve top-quality transit,” Beth Osborne, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, said. “Right now, most of the country has infrequent, unreliable transit service that doesn’t go to all the places people need to go. Not even New York City reaches the level of the places we studied. But if we triple our investment in transit, every single city over 50,000 people—over 450 communities—can have top-notch transit service connecting them to necessities and opportunity. It just requires a sustained commitment to frequent, reliable transit service, and a willingness to stop governing as if Americans should settle for less.”
The U.S. is projected to spend $6.3 trillion on highways over the same 20 years, the report said. The report said spending $4.6 trillion on transit over 20 years would save American households more than $5.4 trillion over 20 years, due to decreased reliance on car ownership alone.
“Americans should be able to rely on transit that gets them where they need to go, when they need to be there,” Steve Davis, Interim Director of Transportation for America. “Good transit saves families money and provides vital access to jobs, housing, and opportunity. We also need dramatic changes in how we plan, build, and operate transit, but this report starts to show the level of commitment required to finally deliver the kind of transit Americans deserve.”