For Every $1 Dollar Invested in Public Transit Projects, $4 are Generated Back to the Economy
Nat Ford, APTA Chair and CEO, Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Paul Skoutellas, APTA President and CEO
(Washington D.C., Monday, March 19, 2018) – The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) strongly opposes the Trump Administration’s deep cuts in the federal funding for existing public transit infrastructure programs to fund their proposed infrastructure initiative. While the association supports the Trump Administration’s stated goal to strengthen America’s infrastructure, these cuts to public transit infrastructure would be a big mistake and counterproductive to fostering prosperous communities.
The $200 billion proposed by the Trump Administration for infrastructure would be paid for by cutting funding for critical public transportation infrastructure programs in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget.
Investing in our nation’s public transit infrastructure instead of cutting it will grow our economy. For instance, every $1 dollar invested in public transit projects, $4 are generated back to the economy. For every $1 billion invested in public transportation, 50,000 jobs are created.
APTA’s 2018 Legislative Conference is taking place March 18-20 in Washington, D.C. Members will be meeting with Congressional offices to educate the Congress on how including public transit as a part of an infrastructure initiative will impact the local community.
This investment contributes to economic growth, jobs and getting people back to work – all the benefits of a thriving economy.
APTA and its members will work with the Congress and the Administration to push for a bipartisan approach that continues and expands upon the historic federal support needed to address public transportation’s priorities. These include addressing the public transit industry’s $90 billion backlog of state of good repair work and a solution to make the Highway Trust Fund solvent and sustainable. The cuts the Administration are suggesting in its FY2019 budget mirror the reductions in its proposed FY 2018 budget which Congress already rejected in the 2018 appropriations process that is nearing completion.
Congress affirmed this federal responsibility when it authorized $2.3 billion annually, through 2020, for the Capital Improvement Grants (CIG) program in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which was overwhelmingly approved by bipartisan votes of 83-16 in the Senate and 359-65 in the House of Representatives.