In a press release issued Monday, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, Paul P. Skoutelas, delivered the following statement.
“The newly proposed COVID-19 emergency legislation, The Heroes Act, includes $32 billion of emergency transit funding and is a lifeline for our industry. Without additional emergency funding, many public transit agencies will soon be forced to cut services and routes for essential workers and furlough their workers, leaving our communities without service and jobs when they need them the most.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) expresses its deep appreciation to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) and
Subcommittee Chairman David E. Price (D-NC), and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR) for their leadership and critical roles in developing this legislation and urges Congress to take swift action.
As the pandemic nears its seventh month, public transportation systems across the nation are facing urgent and dire situations. The industry continues to serve essential employees every day. As our nation’s transit agencies work to maintain essential services while restoring full services, federal support is paramount to ensuring that public transit agencies can survive and help our communities and nation recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic. Recent surveys conducted by APTA show that six in 10 public transit systems will need to reduce service and furlough employees in the coming months without emergency federal funding from Congress. This new data also indicates that nearly one-half of public transit industry businesses expect to lay off employees, and nearly one-third of transit industry businesses are concerned that they may go out of business if additional federal funding is not provided.
We urge both chambers of Congress and the Administration to move swiftly and enact this legislation providing $32 billion in critical federal support to enable the industry’s very survival during this unparalleled pandemic.”