The Senate’s infrastructure deal came up short on transit in two key ways. The House can address these concerns by restoring the funds cut from transit. More on this in our fact sheet.
1. The 80-20 split
From job creation to mobility, transit provides key benefits to communities, but highways routinely receive far more federal funding. Before the bipartisan infrastructure package passed in the Senate, senators discussed altering the 80-20 highway-transit split, which provides 80 percent of new funds to highways and 20 percent to transit. Though the House’s INVEST in America Act altered the split to 77-23, when the Senate passed its bipartisan infrastructure bill, the 80-20 split remained in place and transit funding was cut from $49 billion to $39 billion—one of the only programs that was cut when compared to the original proposal.
$39 billion is still a historic investment in terms of funding levels, but it won’t lead to major shifts for transit. With the 80-20 split still firmly in place, we can expect the majority of funds to go to highway expansions, which both undermine transit service by providing yet more “free” highways (which are anything but) and can make transit more difficult to access and use.
2. Operations funding
New funding for transit will help buy more buses or railcars, but these investments could be rendered useless without proper investment in operations costs. Operations funding pays for drivers and other labor, mechanics, and electricity to run the new buses and lines.
Transit, like other industries during the pandemic, has been put under economic strain due to low ridership cutting into farebox revenues. In the midst of the Great Recession, transit faced a similar situation. New funding paid for brand new buses or railcars at the same time that transit agencies were laying off drivers and cutting service because of the drop in sales taxes and other non-fare revenue sources. The irony is that proper investment in public transit can spur even more economic recovery and job growth compared to other types of spending.
As T4America Director Beth Osborne recently put it, “There’s a lot of money for new buses and updated facilities, and things like that. It still will likely be as dangerous and difficult as ever to reach that facility, but it’ll be real pretty.”
In the budget reconciliation, the House can restore the $10 billion taken from transit and make funds available for operations.
Download the fact sheet about why “Congress and the White House owe transit $10 billion cut in the infrastructure deal.”
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