TESTIMONY
OF THE
AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
ASSOCIATION
BEFORE THE
HOUSE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE
JUDICIARY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
OF THE
HOUSE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
ON
TRANSIT FUNDING FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006
***********
April
28, 2005
(Download
in Adobe PDF format)
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairman
and members of the subcommittee, on behalf of the American Public Transportation
Association (APTA), I thank you for the opportunity to testify on the need for
and benefits of investment in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) programs under
the Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary,
and District of Columbia Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2006.
ABOUT
APTA
APTA's 1,500 public and private member organizations serve the
public by providing safe, efficient, and economical public transportation service,
and by working to ensure that those services and products support national economic,
energy conservation, environmental, and community goals.
APTA member organizations
include public transit systems and commuter railroads; design, construction and
finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; and state
associations and departments of transportation. More than ninety percent of the
people who use public transportation in the United States and Canada are served
by APTA member public transportation systems.
OVERVIEW
Mr.
Chairman, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Transportation Appropriations bill is an opportunity
to advance national goals through increased federal investment in the nation's
surface transportation infrastructure, including public transportation. U.S. citizens
support federal policies that create good, high-paying jobs, especially jobs that
cannot be exported abroad. Not only does public transportation create jobs, it
also helps improve the economy by reducing congestion, promoting energy conservation,
and providing transportation options to workers and others.
Use of America's
public transportation systems grew in 2004 at a rate as fast as the growth in
use of the nation's roads. Ridership on light rail grew by more than 8 percent,
on heavy rail by more than 3 percent, and on bus systems by more than 2 percent.
Light rail's strong growth should be no surprise, as new service has come on in
communities around the country including Houston, Charlotte, Little Rock and Minneapolis.
As gas prices continue to climb to record highs, public transit agencies in Chicago,
Columbus, Denver, Jacksonville, Miami and New York all have reported increases
in ridership.
Communities across the nation are voting for local funding
to support new and expanded transit service every year. Voters in 44 areas, including
Denver, Phoenix and San Diego approved new or extended existing taxes in November
2004 to finance such new service. Demand for these options is partly a product
of frustration with constantly growing congestion that negatively affects our
quality of life by wasting time and money, and a desire for cleaner air. Indeed,
polls show that voters support public transportation regardless of whether they
live in urban, suburban, or rural communities, and that they will vote for candidates
who support such investment. But transit service is only useful if is convenient
and available, and less than 55 percent of all families have access to any public
transportation, based on the 2003 American Household Survey for the United States,
and an even smaller number of households have access to adequate public transportation
service.
Similarly, with the population aging, many older Americans would
benefit from increased investment in public transportation. As driving becomes
a less viable option for many elderly citizens, they and persons with disabilities
want good public transportation options so that they can continue to participate
fully in society. Ridership on demand-response systems grew by more than 4 percent
in 2004. Because of funding constraints at all levels of government, many older
Americans and people with disabilities have limited access to public transportation
services, despite the fact that good transit service can make the difference between
living independently and moving into assisted living facilities.
Clearly,
we need to maintain, improve, and expand the public transportation systems that
have served this country so well, but the needs are great. The American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Cambridge Systematics,
Inc. estimate that an annual capital investment of more than $44 billion is needed
to adequately maintain and improve existing transit systems.
FISCAL
YEAR 2006 GOALS
APTA recognizes the need to wisely invest limited federal
resources and an investment in public transportation is a wise use of limited
funds. It is important to maintain and expand the nation's basic transportation
infrastructure, including transit, to meet the public's growing demand for service.
In addition to being an important part of our overall surface transportation network,
transit investment produces excellent returns and serves national goals by producing
jobs and providing more mobility options to all Americans. It improves the environment,
reduces dependence on foreign oil, and provides a solid return on the investment
by fostering economic growth. According to a Cambridge Systematics Inc. study,
for every 10 dollars spent on transit capital projects, 30 dollars in business
sales is generated. Every 10 dollars invested in transit operations results in
32 dollars in business sales.
APTA's funding request for FTA programs in
FY 2005 is based on APTA's recommendations for reauthorization of the expiring
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21), which were developed
over a two-year period and adopted by APTA's Board of Directors in 2002. Those
recommendations proposed funding transit at $10.1 billion in FY 2006. We recognize
the constraints that the Subcommittee faces, however, and we urge that it fund
the transit program at no less than $8.5 billion, which is the level included
in the TEA LU reauthorization bill which the House approved in March by a vote
of 417-9.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT CREATES JOBS
& KEEPS THE ECONOMY MOVING
Policy makers know that increased investment
in our nation's transportation infrastructure, and especially in public transportation,
will help the economy and produce good-paying jobs. Secretary of Transportation
Mineta points out that for every $1 billion in federal highway and transit spending,
47,500 jobs are created or sustained. The jobs that investment in public transportation
creates are high-paying, stable, and cannot be exported. The jobs created are
not just those needed to operate new and expanded transit service, which are significant,
but also in the private sector, which has an impact nationwide. For instance,
buses are built by Chance Coach in Wichita, KS; Neoplan USA in Lamar, CO; New
Flyer in St. Cloud, MN; GILLIG in Hayward, CA; North American Bus Industries in
Anniston, AL; Champion Bus in Imlay City, MI; MCI in Pembina, ND; Orion Buses
in Oriskany, NY; and the list goes on. Transmissions for many of those buses are
built by Allison Transmission of Indianapolis, a General Motors subsidiary. Indeed,
the APTA Business Member Board of Governors presented GM Chairman and CEO Rick
Wagoner with its Outstanding Business Executive of the Year Award in 2004. In
accepting the Award, Mr. Wagoner spoke in support of public transportation, saying,
"We have supported a Federal transit program because we know that personal
vehicles are only part of the solution… that a balanced transportation system
is the best approach." Engineering services may be provided by Parsons Brinkerhoff
Quade and Douglas, and DMJM + Harris or a score of other private sector firms
with offices around the country. Opportunities for businesses across America expand
when investment in public transportation is increased.
Investment in public
transportation is good for the economy. But public transportation serves another
important economic purpose: alleviating highway congestion. It was reported last
year that the cost of congestion exceeds $67 billion annually - including more
than 3.6 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of excess fuel consumed.
The average driver loses more than a week and a half of work (62 hours) each year
sitting in gridlock. The average cost of congestion per peak road traveler is
$1,160 a year. All of that congestion delays more than 64 percent of the nation's
freight that moves by truck on highways, which represents annual value to the
economy of more than $5 trillion. Were it not for public transportation, the nation
would have lost another 1.1 billion hours and $20 billion dollars while stuck
in congestion.
But public transportation does not just improve the economy
by taking cars off the road - it also provides transportation options to low-income
workers who cannot afford to drive to their jobs. According to the Surface Transportation
Policy Project (STPP), the proportion of household expenditures devoted to transportation
has grown from 14 percent in 1960 to almost 20 percent today. As transportation
costs increase, a recently published Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
Issue Brief found that Americans who commute by car or truck spent about $1,280
per year in 1999, while those who were able to use public transportation to get
to and from work spent just $765 per year. These costs have risen faster with
the recent increase in the cost of gas. Clearly those who need to work the most
to provide for their families have much to gain from the savings that public transportation
can provide.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS IN DEMAND
Last
November voters in cities across the country, from Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio,
and Northern Virginia to Ludington and Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Bend, Oregon voted
for new taxes to provide new and expanded public transportation services. These
were just a few of the efforts across the country to increase funding for transportation
infrastructure, which saw voters approve a strong majority of transit-related
referenda. According to the Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE), of the
28 measures on ballots that included public transportation funding in November
2004, 22 initiatives (worth an estimated total of over $40 billion) were approved.
Eighteen were approved earlier in the year for a total of 40 approved initiatives
in 2004. In total, the public voted to support 80 percent of these recent ballot
initiatives. This approval rate is being driven in large part by citizen demand
for more transportation choices.
That these referenda have been approved
by such large margins should come as no surprise. As APTA reported in testimony
before this Subcommittee last year, polls have consistently shown that the American
public supports increased public transportation services and also supports providing
the resources to pay for it. A Wirthlin Worldwide poll taken for APTA in 2004
showed that 80 percent of Americans see quality of life benefits from increased
investment in public transportation, 76 percent of Americans support public funding
for the expansion and improvement of public transportation, and a strong majority
of Americans believe transportation investment is preferable to tax cuts to stimulate
the economy. These findings hold true across all geographies - urban, suburban,
small town and rural residents. Another poll from 2003 by APTA and the American
Automobile Association (AAA) showed that 95 percent of Americans said traffic
congestion, including commutes to and from work, has grown worse over the last
three years, and that 92 percent said it was either very important (71 percent)
or somewhat important (21 percent) for their community to have both good roads
and viable alternatives to driving.
While demand for new and expanded service
is increasing, the resources required to simply maintain the present level of
service are immense. The Department of Transportation's own 2002 Conditions &
Performance Report indicates that an investment level of $75 billion a year is
needed for highway and transit capital infrastructure in order to begin to improve
the condition of the nation's highways, bridges, and transit systems.
PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION PROVIDES MOBILITY OPTIONS
Public transportation provides
mobility options to persons for whom driving is not an option due either to cost,
disability, or other reasons. For many in this population, public transportation
may be the only option to living a fully independent and productive life. The
affordability of public transportation for low-income workers has been addressed,
but for some it is not a problem of affordability but rather ability to drive.
For many of these people, public transportation can be the difference between
staying in their own homes and moving into an assisted living community.
According to the AARP's Beyond 50.03: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living
and Disability, released in August 2003, as people move from their 70s into their
80s, the percentage of licensed drivers falls to 50 percent from just over 90
percent. With the baby-boom generation approaching retirement age, this means
the population of elderly Americans who do not have a driver's license will soon
pose a serious challenge.
Persons with disabilities face similar mobility
problems. Many cannot drive or afford vehicles that are fitted to their needs.
Public transportation can provide them the options they need to stay active and
independent. However, according to AARP's report, 32 percent of people with disabilities
over 65 report that inadequate transportation is a problem. The report goes on
to say that while public transportation is more economically efficient in areas
with high population density, many older Americans with disabilities live "outside
of central cities in communities where public transportation is found least often."
PRESIDENT'S
BUDGET PROPOSAL
In February, The Bush Administration released its Fiscal
Year 2006 Budget proposal, which recommends a funding level of $7.781 billion
for the federal transit program. Despite proposing an overall cut in non-defense
discretionary spending, the Administration's public transportation funding proposal
represents an increase in investment over FY 2005. This increase for transit investment
was accompanied by a recommendation in the budget request for a six-year funding
level for TEA 21 reauthorization of $283.9 billion, an increase of $27.9 billion
over the Administration's proposal last year. The DOT budget release states that
this "figure reflects the emerging consensus in Congress that was developed
in a conference committee in 2004."
Clearly, the Administration understands
the value that increased investment in our surface transportation infrastructure,
including public transportation, provides to the American people and the role
it plays in meeting the important national goals described above. The Administration's
support for public transportation investment is matched by Congress. The House
in March overwhelmingly approved TEA 21 reauthorization legislation that increases
investment in public transportation to more than $10 billion by Fiscal Year 2009.
NEW
STARTS APPROVAL PROCESS
The FTA issued a Dear Colleague letter dated
March 9, 2005, in which it invited interested parties to comment on a number of
issues relating to FTA's New Starts Program by April 1, 2005, including its proposal
to no longer consider projects without at least a "medium" cost-effectiveness
rating. In a March 31, 2005, comment to FTA on its Dear Colleague letter, APTA
opposed changing the cost-effectiveness rating level for project funding recommendations,
noting that under federal transit law and regulation project determinations are
to be based on a multiple measure approach in which the merits of candidate projects
are to be evaluated on a range of criteria, not just on cost effectiveness. APTA
further noted that transit reauthorization legislation now pending in Congress
that may be enacted soon would also require revisions to the New Starts program,
and thus asked FTA not to proceed with its proposed changes at this time. Finally,
APTA expressed support for five other changes proposed by the FTA, some of which
the industry had proposed for many years, and looks forward to working with the
FTA on their implementation.
CONCLUSION
Public
transportation can play a key role in meeting the goals of the Administration
and Congress in providing economic development, energy independence, transportation
options for Americans who cannot afford to drive or are not able to, and preserving
the environment. To do so will, however, require a commitment on the part of the
federal government in the form of increased, predictable investment in our nation's
infrastructure.
Mr. Chairman, we look forward to working with the Committee
as it advances the FY 2006 appropriations bills that deal with national transportation
infrastructure needs.
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