Cutting Federal Public Transportation Funding Will Result in Significant Job Losses and Service Cuts

Public transit systems from around the country provided specific examples how the cuts would impact their operations in a variety of areas, including frequency and capacity of passenger service, maintenance and repairs programs, security enhancements, facility improvements, route expansions and vehicle purchases.

One example comes from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, which reported that "this proposed 30 percent cut in funding would cause an approximate $7 million reduction in service, which equals almost 1 million revenue miles annually, affecting three million passengers. This would cause a loss of approximately 50 jobs within our agency. This would also limit the ability of passengers to get to and from their jobs."

In the Centre Area Transportation Authority at State College, in Pennsylvania they report the following:, "A 30 percent cut in federal funding would mean that we would have to cut up to five of our 17 community routes. Our funding situation is already so precarious that our 'neighborhood' routes only run four or five trips a day, Monday through Friday, so any further cutbacks would mean elimination of all service on these routes."

Additionally, the cuts would have a significant ripple effect into the private sector, as APTA estimates that 12,002 fewer buses, 6,113 fewer vans and small vehicles, and 2,268 fewer rail vehicles would be made in America over the six year authorization period.

"As this survey shows, the nation's public transportation systems simply cannot sustain the significant hit to funding that Congress has proposed," said William Millar, president of the APTA. "We are concerned about the outlook for public transportation funding and jobs. This is why public transit advocates and riders have joined together to tell Congress that America needs more public transportation investment, not less."

The "Don't X Out Public Transit" day kicked off on September 20th with a series of rallies in communities across the country, from Birmingham to Chicago to Los Angeles. More information about the campaign can be found at www.supporttransit.org. APTA's survey can be found at http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/APTA-Impact-House-Cuts-2011.pdf.