American Public Transportation Association President William Millar says the current six-year, multi-modal surface transportation authorization bill is woefully short of what is required to address the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs.
In a statement, Millar commended the leadership of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica for expanding project financing and simplifying federal grant programs, calling them “important components of the proposal.” Still, Millar minced no words of where the APTA stands on the issue.
“This proposal would severely underfund critical elements of the federal transit program,” Millar said. “The funding will not permit public transit agencies to address the costs of getting the existing systems to a state of good repair, which the U.S. DOT has estimated as a one-time cost of $78 billion, let alone meet the growing demand for public transportation services in the United States. It will severely curtail the purchase of new buses and trains, reduce critical maintenance and safety programs, and could cut operating funds for transit systems in small communities and rural areas.”
Millar urges Congress to increase transportation investments, or at the very least maintain current funding levels.
For more, visit www.apta.com