DALLAS — Public transit advocates pushed for $100 billion of federal funding for mass transit over six years at a hearing on the reauthorization of the surface transportation spending law that was held Thursday by the Senate Banking Committee
The existing two-year funding law that expires on Sept. 30 at the end of fiscal 2014 provided $10.7 billion a year for transit infrastructure programs, which Transportation Department officials said recently resulted in a maintenance backlog estimated at $86 billion in 2013.
Michael Meliniphy, president of the American Public Transportation Association, said federal funding for public transit should be increased to $22.7 billion a year by fiscal 2020 to provide new capacity and reduce the maintenance deficit.
"Our funding proposal is robust because our needs are real," Meliniphy told committee members at the hearing.
The recommendation for a six-year, $100 billion federal transit program is based on a total investment in equipment and facilities of $245 billion from fares and state, local, and federal governments, he said.
Transit funding in the next transportation bill should return to the levels that prevailed before the current measure was approved in 2012, said Barbara Cline, president of the Community Transportation Association of America.
"Transit infrastructure is outrageously underfunded," she said.
The current law, Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century, reduced funding by 50% for a program that small and rural transit systems used to buy buses, she said.
"The result is a looming bus capital crisis," Cline said.
The biggest challenge to public transportation providers is the uncertain future of the Highway Trust Fund, said committee chairman, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.
"Both the transit and highway accounts [of the HTF] are unable to support current investment levels, and Congress must act to prevent a funding crisis before this fall," Johnson said.
The highway account of the HTF may be depleted weeks before Sept. 30 and the transit account is expected to end the fiscal year with $400 million, DOT officials have said.
The Federal Transit Administration relies on the HTF to provide more than 40% of the capital investment in U.S. transit systems, Johnson said.
Without a new source of revenue for the HTF in addition to the gasoline tax, he said, more than $50 billion in new transportation projects will be put on hold and approved projects will be delayed.
The banking committee will develop the public transit portion of the next surface transportation bill, Johnson said. "The committee's ability to change programs will be tied to the amount of funding the [Highway] Trust Fund can support," Johnson said.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is responsible for the highway portion and overall structure of a Senate transportation measure, with the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., determining how to pay for it.
Congress must either find new revenue sources to replenish the HTF, continue to bolster the fund with general fund revenues, or slash transportation funding, Meliniphy said.
As the fund dwindles toward depletion this summer, he said, FTA will curtail reimbursements owed to local transit agencies. A solution is needed before those cuts go into place, Meliniphy said.
"We believe our revenue challenges cannot await a solution in the next authorization bill," Meliniphy told committee members. "We urge you to act swiftly to prevent the service cuts, fare increases, and construction project suspensions these funding cuts could require."
