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Table Of Contents

Message from the Chairman

Bush Administration Budget Proposal Called ‘Disappointing’ Will Grow Market Far Less than APTA Plan

For Miller, Projects are a Hole in One

Hynes-Cherin ‘Walks the Talk’

Business Members Kick-Off Tactical Plan Focusing on Critical Issues

Message from the Chairman

Business Member Call to Arms!

By Bill Lochte, Bombardier

When asked of her three priorities for her term as APTA Chair, Celia Kupersmith said: 1) reauthorization, 2) reauthorization and 3) reauthorization. And for good reason. While many projects and issues will confront us in the coming year, there is no matter more critical to the long-term prospects for the public transportation industry in North America than an even stronger federal partnership.

ACTION CALENDAR KEY EVENTS: House and Senate Reauthorization Hearings Reauthorization Proposals Begin to Surface KEY BUSINESS MEMBER ACTIONS: Attend APTA Legislative Conference & Make Hill Visits Make Sure Your Local/State Chambers of Commerce Join The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Americans For Transportation Mobility Coalition

Unfortunately, the early news out of the Bush administration is not encouraging, and we need to get organized now. As Cliff Henke notes in his article beginning on this page, the administration is calling for a far more modest public transportation vision than what APTA is urging.

The proposal is particularly curious right now, given the industry’s track record as an engine for economic growth and the special role it played in keeping the country moving after Sept. 11, 2001. Like some who forget when the mess after an earthquake or big snowstorm is cleared, the administration apparently has suffered a disconnect between its proposed budget and the need to keep public transportation growing so the country can keep moving ahead.

We business members also have a special role this year: to help our elected officials understand these connections again. With a Congress and an administration more amenable to private sector solutions rather than big government programs, we must step forward to make the business case for transit investments.

This was a central theme of the recent Business Member Board of Governors (BMBG) Annual Meeting, held January 21 to 25 in Las Croabas, Puerto Rico. The BMBG Government Affairs Committee chaired by Sharon Greene came up with an action plan for business advocacy in 2003. The plan includes the following themes:

Business Member Reauthorization Timeline: As APTA and other interest groups pitch their proposals, the administration crafts legislation to address its own priorities, think tanks release new policy studies and Congress continues to hold hearings, a “gameplan” to show how the whole process fits together is essential. Jerry Premo and Nuria Fernandez have devoted considerable energy to the development of a timeline to show how (PT)2 and other initiatives fit into the overall strategy. This effort is being supplemented by a monthly TEA 21 reauthorization checklist that describes what’s happening in Washington, what APTA is doing and local actions needed in the coming month.

Transit Means Business Breakfast: As part of APTA’s Legislative Conference, APTA’s Business Members will sponsor a special breakfast event on Monday, March 10, that will focus on the importance of business in the advocacy of public transportation. The breakfast, with a target audience of both private and public sector members, will feature Paul Weyrich speaking on opportunities for the private sector to influence the debate on transit funding. Weyrich’s keynote comments will be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring business lobbyists who will provide the nuts and bolts ideas on how the private sector can be effectively mobilized in this most critical year for transit advocacy.

Business Member Congressional Outreach: Under a new initiative we are calling “Adopt-a-District,” each APTA Business Member will be asked to stay in contact with a number of congressional offices they will visit, fax, e-mail or phone regularly until TEA 21 is authorized, aided by tools provided through APTA. When appropriate, business members will also mobilize their employee workforce to drive home the business and jobs connections to Congress. Jolene Molitoris, Nancy Butler and Marlene Connor are heading this effort.

Geographic Information System (GIS) Initiative: Under the direction of Chuck Wochele, this extremely successful initiative identifies business locations in each congressional district. Colorful, graphical maps are printed to show the location of transit service and the initiative shows how business serves and is sustained by transit funding in each district. However, approximately two-thirds of APTA’s Business Members still have not responded to surveys asking for the locations of their various offices. Please provide APTA with the needed information and help make this initiative an even bigger success. Also, please use the maps in your visits with your congressional offices.

Participate in APTA’s Legislative Conference: APTA needs to make a statement to Congress in March, and we need to show our colleagues on the operating systems side of APTA that this matters to us too. The messages are tried and true, but more urgent than ever: The time has come to give Americans real freedom freedom and choice; that infrastructure investment is what is needed to jump-start our economy, not just in the city that gets the grant but in many other places in the country where that city spends the grant money; that transportation alternatives are now even more important to national security after Sept. 11; and that the public and private sectors are united in a partnership to make these things happen. Again this year, special events are being organized to bring these messages to Capitol Hill — with a business focus.

Careful Ongoing Review of Each Reauthorization Proposal: Business Member Government Affairs Committee Chair Sharon Greene appointed Cliff Henke and Jerry Premo to give a special look at the various reauthorization proposals to be released this year and highlight any provisions that may have particular applicability to the supply side. I also ask each of you to contribute your time and insight to helping them as appropriate in this effort.

I join Celia Kupersmith in calling for reauthorization as the top priority for the coming year. It will not be easy " but neither were the historic achievements we made with TEA 21. As that effort taught us, the only way to do it is with teamwork. If we will all lift a little of the weight, we can do the job! "

Bush Administration Budget Proposal Called ‘Disappointing’ Will Grow Market Far Less than APTA Plan

By Cliff Henke,
North American Bus Industries

The Bush administration released its Fiscal Year 2004 budget proposal on February 3, providing a glimpse of its forthcoming proposal to reauthorize the federal public transportation assistance program — and its contents are less than encouraging to those looking for a revived public transportation goods and services marketplace.

In fact, APTA President William Millar immediately issued a statement, calling the proposal “disappointing” in light of the pent-up demand for bus and rail service in the U.S. As such, APTA business members will be on Capitol Hill this spring and summer during the reauthorization process trying to convince their elected officials to sweeten the public transportation pot as a jump-start to economic activity.

President Bush proposes spending $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004, which begins Oct. 1, 2003 — exactly the same amount his administration wants to spend in the current fiscal year. (As Business in Motion went to press the current fiscal year’s transportation appropriations bill was still pending in Congress; the Federal Transit Administration is currently running on a continuing resolution.)

This level is 11% less — about $900 million less — than the amount urged in APTA’s reauthorization proposal for next fiscal year. If the administration’s full proposal, which was not yet released at press time, sticks to President Bush’s State of the Union address, suggesting that programs grow no more than 4% per year or limiting increased spending on highways and transit to the rate of growth in revenues from the existing gas tax, the gap between APTA’s recommendations and the administration’s could be even greater.

While APTA says that the need for more public transportation service justifies at least a $65.8 billion program between FY 2004 and FY 2009, the Bush administration’s long-term intentions appear to be headed for a $47.8 billion total proposed for the same period. That would be a drop of more than 27% below the APTA funding position.

The administration’s budget proposal is even more curious given the recession that the nation is facing. Study after study concludes that investments in public transportation stimulate business activity. Some have even showed that federal public transportation assistance represents one of the best stimulants to the economy and job creation, far better than investments in defense, for example. Last year, APTA released one of the most recent reports on this connection, called “Public Transportation Means Business.” It showed that every $10 million increase in transportation capital investment by government creates 310 jobs and $30 million in business sales. That is far better than the multiplier effects of tax cuts. Further, new estimates by the U.S. DOT show that every $1 billion invested in public transportation infrastructure supports approximately 47,500 jobs, proving that transit continues to be an economic engine and jobs creator.

These types of investments result in real business expansion and in real jobs, often in places not typically associated with areas that benefit from public transportation spending. In fact, virtually all transit bus manufacturers locate their manufacturing facilities in rural areas. These include Lamar, Colo., where Neoplan USA is headquartered; Anniston, Ala., home of North American Bus Industries Inc.; Wichita, Kan., where Optima Bus Corp. is located; and Imlay City, Mich., the factory location of Champion Bus. Kawasaki, which is manufacturing heavy rail vehicles for New York City Transit, just broke ground on a new manufacturing facility in Nebraska. Each of these facilities employs hundreds of workers and generates tens of millions of dollars in economic activity throughout the local economies of these “heartland” communities.

Accordingly, APTA Business Members have a stake in telling their elected representatives in Washington that their decisions mean business, added Bill Lochte, chair of the Business Member Board of Governors and APTA Vice President of Business Members. To that end, a variety of legislative strategies are being planned for the reauthorization campaign, particularly during the APTA Legislative Conference in March.

In addition to funding levels, business members are following several other issues related to reauthorization. Foremost of these are the so-called “funding firewalls” created in TEA 21 that have guaranteed stable funding during the past six years and which APTA hopes to continue. Under this provision, the law protects most of the annual authorized funding amounts from the threat of budget cuts. These guarantees have been instrumental in ensuring that the program grows predictably each year. This predictability has been especially important to many business members planning new product development and other risky strategic decisions based on future market demand. Further, the certainty that guaranteed funding provides enables grantees to get more “bang for the buck” in leveraging funds to finance multi-year projects.

The administration’s budget proposal assumes a number of structural changes to the federal transit program. It would eliminate the discretionary bus and bus facilities program — $607 million in FY 2003 — and use those funds to increase other programs. That is a major deviation from APTA’s carefully crafted consensus proposal, and is counter to the overall call by congressional leaders that TEA 21 reauthorization this year should be “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary” in nature.

Another proposal that the Bush administration hopes to include in reauthorization is the reduction of the federal match ceiling to 50%. Although current rates of local match have been averaging this amount for several years now, APTA opposes this proposal as a part of law because it places public transportation investments at a disadvantage to highways, which under the Bush proposal would still enjoy the 80-20 federal match allowance. This is particularly a problem for states and localities planning new surface transportation investments in the current budget-strapped fiscal climate. Indeed, a new report released by the National Conference on State Legislatures shows state budget gaps growing at an alarming rate. According to the new study, two-thirds of the states must close a $26 billion gap between now and June 30, when most states’ current fiscal years end.

Clearly, the supply side of public transportation has much at stake this year. Conversely, however, federal officials need to hear the very important economic and employment benefits generated by the federal transit assistance program. In today's economically challenged climate, there are no better evangelists of this message than APTA Business Members.

For Miller, Projects are a Hole in One

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Larry Miller knew at a young age that he wanted to be involved in city planning. "I’ve always been interested in the structure of cities and the growth of communities," Miller says.

Part of his career path may have been influenced by his father, who served as a volunteer board member of St. Catharines, Ontario’s planning commission for 13 years. After receiving his master’s degree in urban and regional planning, Miller went on to a number of local government jobs coupling planning and consulting work, which kindled an interest in public transportation. Miller then headed two transit authorities, British Columbia Transit and the Regional Public Transportation Authority of Phoenix. Those positions enabled Miller to see the impact that rapid transit projects, such as the Skytrain in Vancouver, had on shaping the community.

Miller has since taken his enthusiasm for transit project development to the private side, where he is currently in his twelfth year with Gannett-Fleming. As vice president – manager of transit systems, Miller manages the development and planning of projects worldwide. “That’s been a real benefit to me in terms of playing a role in transit projects internationally,” he says.

Miller’s involvement with the BMBG began when he filled a seat held by Gannett-Fleming. Miller sees his role on the BMBG as an opportunity to bring together the perspectives of the consulting side of the business, operations and his experiences as a former executive of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.

Miller says the establishment of an open communication among members is important so that an understanding about issues in the business world is developed. Miller is also on APTA’s legislative committee and on the BMBG’s intercity transport task force, which focuses on developing a role for APTA in legislative discussions about intercity transport in the future, specifically high-speed rail and intercity bus, he says.

When not travelling across the globe for various projects, Miller is in the process of moving his home base from Seattle to Phoenix, where he is heading an $800 million peoplemover project. Miller�fs favorite pastime is golf, he says without skipping a beat.

Hynes-Cherin ‘Walks the Talk’

When it comes to transportation, Brigid Hynes-Cherin “walks the talk,” so to speak.

“I don’t own a car. I haven’t owned one in 17 years,” she says, adding that she has been fortunate to live in cities where this is possible.

Hynes-Cherin’s interest in transportation began in college, when her mother talked to her about the difficulties of having to use public transportation to get to work. “My mom got me into it because she was a user of transportation,” she says. Hynes-Cherin went on to obtain a degree in transportation from George Washington University. She then worked for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as a community planner reviewing grants, planning and environmental studies.

Dealing with environmental issues at the FTA piqued her interest enough to enter law school, where she studied environmental law. In addition to the federal realm, Hynes-Cherin has held positions in the public and private sectors. She currently is vice president at Parsons Corp., where she has been employed since 1999. “All of those [areas] have a different perspective. It really helps to know how the other side thinks,” she says. Hynes-Cherin brings this approach of joining the needs of the industry together through her involvement in APTA, where she took part in the legislative and policy and planning committees.

Once her career brought her to Parsons, Hynes-Cherin was elected to the BMBG, where she is currently chair of the liaison committee. One of her main goals as chair is to see more business members elected to the executive committee. At Parsons, where her current projects include the Hampton Roads and the Denver West corridor projects, Hynes-Cherin revels in the planning stages of projects — seeing environmental justice and economic development work together. “I think what we are doing in the industry is important, and becoming more important all the time,” she says.

Hynes-Cherin, who lives in the heart of Washington, D.C., says after her job, she cares most about spending time with her family " one sister and eight brothers. -- have 23 nieces and nephews, which is just great," she says.

Business Members Kick-Off Tactical Plan Focusing on Critical Issues

During the BMBG annual meeting in January, more than 50 business members participated in the kickoff meeting for the Business Member’s Tactical Plan. Development of a tactical plan to guide APTA’s business member activities in the future is one of the key activities identified by BMBG Chair Bill Lochte for this year.

The tactical plan focuses on some of the most critical issues facing our industry and its business members in the years to come. The BMBG will complete a draft tactical plan this spring and will seek feedback from APTA’s business members on the draft plan during listening sessions held at the APTA bus and rail conferences in May and June.

In preparing for their work on this important plan, the BMBG polled APTA’s supply-side members electronically on what was important to them relative to their membership in the association. More than 160 members responded to the survey, most of who are manufacturers or suppliers and consultants. Twenty-six of the respondents classified themselves as small businesses. Following are some results from the survey.

The key messages that the business members provided in their survey responses were:

• Reauthorization is a top priority. Business support on Capitol Hill and across the country is critical to building needed support for public transportation.

• Expanding business opportunities is why the private sector is actively engaged in APTA.

• Business members want to enhance their relationships with their customers through productive networking opportunities.

• Business members want to be full partners in APTA and a distinct part of the Association’s governance.

The top three things that satisfy business members most about their APTA membership are:

1. Networking opportunities within the industry.

2. Services available to business members such as conferences, the APTA Website and reports and other information.

3. Access to information on opportunities at individual transit properties and industry-wide or technological developments.

The top three things that satisfy them least about their membership in APTA are:

1. Inclusion of business points of view in APTA activities.

2. APTA’s effectiveness in representing business members.

3. Access to information on opportunities at individual transit properties and industry-wide or technology developments.

The top three priority areas for action by BMBG in the next five years should be:

1. Reauthorization of TEA 21.

2. Ensuring a healthier business climate for the supply side of the industry.

3. Procurement reform.

The top three things that business members can do to contribute more to APTA are:

1. Increase their participation on industry committees.

2. Become more involved in seminars and sessions at APTA meetings.

3. Increase their participation in APTA lobbying efforts.

The top three things that APTA can do to contribute more to its business members are:

1. Increase leadership opportunities for supply-side members.

2. Increase supply-side participation in seminars and sessions at APTA meetings.

3. Design services for business members such as research, e-commerce and conferences.

A strong partnership between transit agencies and the industry�fs business members is vital, both externally and internally within APTA. The issues are too big and too important for all of us, and a united front, based on mutual support, is essential. We will continue to keep our business members informed of our progress on these important efforts. Anyone who would like to become involved in this process can contact Fran Hooper at APTA. We look forward to your feedback at the bus and rail conferences later this year.

Doing Business Inside the Beltway Breakfast Meeting Monday, March 10, 7:30-8:45 AM JW Marriott, Salons I & II Kick off the Legislative Conference learning how APTA Business Members can shape the upcoming reauthorization discussion. Leading conservative Paul Weyrich will talk about opportunities for the private sector to influence the debate on transit funding, followed by a roundtable discussion featuring our own business lobbyists with the nuts and bolts details on how to play your business card in Washington D.C.