July 2, 2001

The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka
141 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510-1103

Dear Senator Akaka:

I write on behalf of the 1400 member organizations of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) to express our concern about recent efforts to reduce the federal match on transit new start projects.

The House Appropriations Committee included language on this issue in the committee report (H. Rept. 107-108) accompanying the FY 2002 Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2299). Report language states that: "although the maximum federal contribution remains at 80 percent, …… the Committee is very supportive of requiring local sponsors to increase their contributions to projects so that the federal share is no greater than 60 percent." It goes on to state that the Committee "intends to base its future budget decisions on whether or not communities have raised their financial commitment to cover at least forty percent of a project’s total capital costs."

In addition, the Administration’s FY 2002 budget request includes a recommendation to reduce the federal match for transit new starts from the current 80% to 50%, beginning in FY 2004.

APTA strongly disagrees with efforts to establish a federal match for transit capital projects that is lower than the match for highway capital projects. Simply put, local decisions should be based on local needs and concerns, not on the basis of which program offers the highest federal share. Federal policy should promote balanced transportation decision-making; a differential federal share is contrary to such balance. The decision to use one transportation solution or another should be based on which project best meets the needs of the community, and not on which is eligible for the highest federal share.

The House Committee report asserts that the reduction in the match for transit projects is necessary because the "demand has too quickly outstripped available resources" and that reducing the match would allow Congress to fund more projects by better leveraging increased local funding. While we agree that there is great demand for new start projects in communities across the nation, we note that the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA 21) authorizes an additional $430 million in FY 2002, which is not appropriated in the House-passed bill, for new start funding.

Nationally, transit use has increased by 21% over the last five years, faster than the growth of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or air travel. Rising energy costs and traffic congestion in metropolitan areas has further fueled the demand for more and better public transit service. We strongly believe that transit can and should be an important part of our national transportation system. We respectfully ask that you encourage more, not less, investment in our public transportation infrastructure and that you reject efforts to reduce the federal share on new start transit projects.

If you have questions on this or other public transportation issues, please call on me or contact Rob Healy (202-496-4811, rhealy@apta.com) or Tom Yedinak (202-496-4865, tyedinak@apta.com) of my Government Affairs Staff. Thank you for consideration of APTA’s views.

Sincerely yours,

William W. Millar
President

WWM/ked