The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) calls on the Trump Administration and Congress to reject the transport investment cuts and to reaffirm its support for the projects as part of the Fiscal Year 2018 budget process. In addition, APTA calls on Congress to include increased investments in public transportation as part of any new infrastructure initiative.
APTA is “surprised and disappointed” as the Trump Administration has proposed to invest USD 1 trillion in infrastructure, and the White House is recommending cutting billions of dollars from existing transport and public transit infrastructure programs in its proposed “Skinny Budget,” for Fiscal Year 2018. The federal government currently covers only 43 percent of all capital spending for public transit and any cuts will only add to the significant shortfall that already exists.
According to a new analysis by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a USD 200 billion portion of this investment in the US public transportation infrastructure, over a 10-year period is needed. In addition, it could provide sustained economic growth by contributing USD 800 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product over a 20-year period.
Congress reaffirmed this federal responsibility when it authorized USD 2.3 billion annually, through 2020, for the FTA Capital Investment 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. In the FAST ACT, Congress also saw the value in Amtrak and authorized nearly USD 5.5 billion through 2020 for Amtrak’s national network. Additionally, in recognition of TIGER’s huge popularity, Congress annually funds this program at significant levels, which is routinely oversubscribed and supports important multimodal projects that do not always lend themselves to the traditional formula funding programs.
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