WASHINGTON (March 23, 2020) – “On behalf of public transportation organizations throughout the United States, we are extremely appreciative that Congressional leaders in both the House and the Senate have proposed Coronavirus bills that include desperately needed funds for essential public transportation services. We thank leaders on both sides of the aisle and the Trump Administration and strongly urge them to swiftly approve the highest possible funding level for public transit and distribute these funds to transit systems as quickly as possible. The time to act is now.

Public transportation agencies are taking extraordinary measures and have already been massively impacted. As every day passes, the financial consequences are worsening and more dire. Without these funds, the overwhelming majority of systems will be required to either drastically curtail services or suspend services altogether.

This emergency funding will provide for essential public transit services for health care workers, first responders, and grocery and pharmacy workers, as well as medical transportation for kidney dialysis, cancer treatments and other critical care.

In addition, the industry is seeing dramatic reductions in ridership due to state and local workplace restrictions and is facing billions of dollars of loss in fare revenue as well as in sales tax, and other local taxes and agency revenues, such as parking fees and advertising revenues.”

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The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations which represent a $74 billion industry that directly employs 435,000 people and supports millions of private sector jobs. APTA members are engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail. This includes: transit systems; planning, design, construction, and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations and state departments of transportation. APTA is the only association in North America that represents all modes of public transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical transit services and products.                      

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