Transit riding a wave of record funding but ridership 28% below pre-pandemic levels

(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the state will fund public transportation at $1.9 billion as part of a $5.1 billion package for transit over multiple years.

Across the country, states are appropriating billions toward transit at a time federal funding has almost doubled since the pandemic. Yet ridership in 2023 was still 28% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

In Michigan, Democrats introduced a legislative package in June that would create $200 million every year to be spent on transit from fiscal year 2025-26 to fiscal year 2034-25.

In Colorado, lawmakers passed a legislative package in June that would tax oil and gas production in the state and dedicate that revenue for transit. It is expected to generate $100 million a year for transit.

In Pennsylvania, the 2024-25 has budgeted $282 million for public transit and Gov. Josh Shapiro has earmarked $1.5 billion for transportation over the next five years.

State funding would complement a record level of federal funding in the post-pandemic world.

The Federal Transit Administration's budget has increased from $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2019 before the pandemic to $21.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. According to the Congressional Budget Office, average yearly federal funding for transit has increased by 42% from the amount funded in 2016 to 2021 compared to the project funding from 2022 to 2026.

And some proponents of transit say that isn't enough.

While the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $108.2 billion for public transit over five years from fiscal year 2022 through fiscal year 2026.

M.J. Maynard, vice chair of the American Public Transportation Association, asked Congress to honor the promise and provide at least $21.9 billion for public transit and $20.6 billion for passenger rail in 2025. Maynard testified before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit last month.

“Given the enormous economic impact of our industry, if you have a transit problem, you have an economic problem,” Maynard said in a statement.

Maynard expressed the importance of the $79 billion transportation industry that employs over 430,000 people and highlighted the issues the transport agency is facing and the need for sustained investment in public transportation to help communities of all sizes flourish.

“Public transportation does far more than carry people from one destination to another; our industry helps carry the economy,” Maynard said. “Every dollar invested in public transportation generates five dollars in long-term economic returns. And the impacts are felt across the nation – to more than 2,000 suppliers in 48 States and Washington, D.C., including smaller urban and rural areas where buses, railcars, and their parts are often manufactured.”

In her testimony, Maynard acknowledged that 99.8% of the COVID-19 public emergency funds are tied to other projects, and 90% of funds were already used.

President and CEO, Paul Skoutelas, of The American Transport Authority sent a similar letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders last month urging Congress to fulfill the promise that would fully fund public transit and passenger rail.

“Transit operators and agencies across the country – large and small, single mode, multi modal – are counting on annual appropriations that meet the IIJA levels to carry out their service and capital programs” Skoutelas said in an email to The Center Square.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act approved funding levels for public transportation and passenger rail for five years.

“Shortfalls in the promised IIJA authorized levels will delay or forego much needed investment, including aging bus and rail fleet replacements, modernization of bus and rail stations and facilities, and investors in Bus Rapid Transit and rail. This translates into transit agencies not being able to meet the needs of riders and the communities they serve at a crucial time. The backlog of transit capital needs to modernize public transit is in excess of $150 billion,” said Skoutelas.