The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has released a statement calling for increased public transit investment in infrastructure and opposing proposals to decrease funding.
“According to reports, a White House representative outlined a plan at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting that would cut existing funding for public transit infrastructure to pay for the initiative. This is not only disappointing, it is short sighted and counterproductive. These reductions would harm the American economy and communities of all sizes. As it stands now, America is severely underinvesting in public transportation. The American Society of Civil Engineers rates public transit infrastructure a D minus, which is the lowest of any category in their surface transport report card. These proposed cuts would make the industry’s existing USD 90 billion of State-of-Good-Repair gap even worse,” the statement shows.
APTA further called on the Administration and Congress to support the FAST Act and the TIGER financial assistance program and to identify serious, new and sustainable funding to strengthen and grow the US transportation infrastructure.
“Public transport is an integral part of America’s infrastructure. It is an essential element in making the nation’s transport network function. 87 percent of the 35 million trips taken each day on public transport directly impact the economy because Americans ride public transit to commute to work or to spend money at retail businesses and entertainment venues. According to a recent APTA poll, 3 out of 4 Americans support increased public transport investment,” APTA’s statement explained.
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