The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) is asking its members to reach out to Congress to support federal aid for the public transportation industry, which is suffering losses in ridership and revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On March 19, CTAA sent a letter to every Congress member quantifying the emergency supplemental appropriations request and focused on three aspects the CTAA says it has been hearing from its members through a google form, as well as in the town halls hosted last week.
The three asks include:
- Funds to make up for lost farebox and contract revenue;
- Funds to help pay for front-line employees as service reduces; and
- Funds to pay for cleaning and personal protection equipment.
In a letter to its members, CTAA Executive Director Scott Bogren wrote:
“As you know, CTAA does not often ask our membership as a whole to respond to these types of requests. We prefer more targeted approaches that play to our strengths. But unprecedented times call for unprecedented approaches — and that is certainly where we are.
“So again, the ask is for you to contact your members of Congress — both House and Senate — and to let them know that the community and public transit need to be supported in the third phase of supplemental emergency appropriations as our operations face unprecedented challenges and because many of our operations will no doubt need to be operational as we all work together, as a nation, to recover from these difficult times.
“Thank you for all that you are doing in your communities and for anything you can do to help transit get traction in Congress right now. It's vital.”
