“Stand Up For Transportation Day” aims to spur support of federal transportation funding

Stand Up for Transportation Day, April 9, is an effort headed by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) that aims to galvanize support of federal funding of America's public transportation, roads, bridges and rail systems.

The association says congressional action, as well as inaction, is causing harm to the nation’s transit systems.

APTA points to two proposals introduced in Congress to eliminate federal funding for public transportation that the association says “would be disastrous for local communities and their economies.” According to an analysis developed by APTA, these proposals to cut federal funding for public transit would result, on average, in a 43-percent reduction in a community’s capital improvement funding. Overall, the loss of federal capital and operating funding would put at risk more than $227 billion in economic activity over six years.

“The loss of federal funds would impact the reliability and safety of bus and train service as well as jeopardize new services and projects,” the association said.

The APTA analysis highlights the critical role of the federal partnership in public transportation funding and to the growth of local communities and their mobility, particularly when the data are analyzed from a regional perspective. According to APTA, the loss of federal funding would result in $73 billion in lost economic activity in the Northeast, $37 billion in the South, $31.2 billion in the Midwest, $22.9 billion in the Far West and $63.9 billion in the West Coast.

More than 300 participating organizations in more than 140 communities across the country will hold events that organizers say will “collectively call on Congress to take action and pass a long-term surface transportation bill before federal funding expires on May 31.”

The current federal transportation funding bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), was originally signed into law in 2012 and is set to expire on May 31, 2015. APTA says that without a long-term federal transportation funding bill, Americans across the country will face tremendous uncertainty and public transportation systems with infrastructure in desperate need of repair will once again resort to temporary solutions.

“Transportation is the backbone of our national economy, and new analysis from APTA shows the very real impacts that the lack of federal funding would have on public transportation systems and the communities they serve,” the association said. “A long-term transportation bill is urgently needed to help our local and national economies grow and to provide crucial funding for public transportation infrastructure.”