Overview

The Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Transportation for America (T4A) has released Stranded At the Station, a report outlining the financial crisis of public transportation across the country. Plagued by budget cuts to operation, transit agencies have made painful fare increases and cuts in bus and transit services critical to the well-being of communities of color, elderly, disabled and low-income people.  Some of the cuts in the report are the same ones highlighted during Transit Riders for Public Transportation's (TRPT) National Day of Action and these conditions will only worsen in the future without real long term funding plan to operate major transit systems. 

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

• Nearly 90 percent of transit systems have had to raise fares or cut service in the past year
• Among the 25 largest transit operators, 10 are raising fares more than 13 percent just in 2009 alone
• Only 18 cents of every transportation dollar supports transit while highways get a larger share of federal subsidies.
• Large transit systems do not have the flexibility to spend their federal formula funds to preserve service, but instead are restricted to spending on construction and equipment they may not have the funds to operate.

TRPT demands that the federal government must take leadership on funding transit operation by providing dedicated funding. At the same time local agencies and operators need to prioritize all transit funding available to avoid cuts and fare hikes at all costs.  With the Federal Surface Transportation Act (FSTA) moving forward next month within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a first step for moving on operation funding is to pass H.R. 2746 (Russ Carnahan-MO), a marker bill, if included in the FSTA will allow 30-50% of federal funding for transit operation.