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Dear President-Elect Obama:

I write on behalf of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) more than 1,500 member organizations to ask for your continued support for public transportation in economic recovery legislation. Investing in public transportation can help create more than a million new jobs, and transit investment helps achieve other critical national goals: better access to jobs for workers, reduced congestion on our roads, decreased fuel consumption within the nation’s transportation system and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Studies of public transportation capital needs show that $47.8 billion could be invested in much needed projects within a two-year timeframe, thus creating more than 1.3 million new jobs. In a shorter time frame, transit investment still creates jobs quickly. A recent APTA survey identified more than 700 “ready-to-go” public transportation projects worth $12.2 billion that could be advanced within 90 days. These projects would create 340,000 new jobs in the coming months. “Ready-to-go” transit projects include the acquisition of new clean fuel buses and rail cars, the construction and rehabilitation of transit stations and maintenance facilities, the expansion of rail infrastructure, the procurement of information technology products to improve passenger operations and other unfunded capital expenses.

Americans are using public transportation in record numbers again this year. The transit industry experienced the largest quarterly ridership increase in 25 years in the third quarter of 2008. Unfortunately, while transit ridership is growing, U.S. transit systems are under tremendous pressure to cut service and reduce jobs due to reductions in state and local funding for transit. It is therefore important that at least a portion of any funds appropriated under an economic recovery package be made available to assist in covering transit maintenance and operating expenses.

The inclusion of public transportation investment in economic stimulus legislation will strengthen our nation’s economy and is an essential element of a national strategy to become more energy-efficient and improve our environment. Transit plays a critical role in reducing our country’s dependence on foreign oil and lowering our nation’s carbon footprint. Public transportation use already saves the United States 4.2 billion gallons of fuel and 37 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. That amount of oil savings is equivalent to oil refined from 102 supertankers, or more than three times the amount of oil we import from Kuwait each year.

Thank you for your consideration of public transportation’s role in economic recovery. If you have questions, please contact Homer Carlisle of APTA's Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4810 or email hcarlisle@apta.com.

Sincerely,

William W. Millar
President
American Public Transportation Association

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