Tri-State Transportation Campaign, NJ Future, and the Straphangers Campaign joined transit riders, advocates and community leaders across the country on Tuesday to urge Congress for emergency transit funding to stave off devastating service cuts and fare hikes. In a statement, the groups highlighted the impending fare hikes, service cuts, and transit worker layoffs in New Jersey and New York as reason for Congress to pass a jobs bill or other emergency measure.
The Transportation Equity Network (TEN) dubbed April 20 the National Day of Transit Action and is urging Senators to support a bill introduced by Sherrod Brown (D-OH) that will give transit agencies the flexibility to use up to 30-50% of federal transit funding for operating expenses (dependent on an increase in local transit funding). TEN partners held transit rallies in Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis and St. Paul; and Atlanta, where the local transit agency MARTA and the local branch of the Amalgamated Transit Union placed large red Xs on buses and trains slated to be cut. MARTA is cutting roughly 30% of its transit service.
Transportation for America echoed the call for emergency transit funding from Congress with a wide release of its updated national transit cuts map that show the extent and scale of service cuts across the country.
Without additional transit funding from Congress in the form of emergency aid or an infrastructure focused job bill in the short term and flexible spending for federal transit dollars for operating expenses in the long term, transit service will continue to deteriorate in the region, leaving millions of New York and New Jersey residents stuck and stranded.
Last December, the House of U.S. Representatives passed a jobs bill which included an additional $8.4 billion for transit (10% of which could be used for operating expenses) and, if passed by the Senate, would stave off looming service cuts and fare hikes in our region. Three months ago, 17 U.S. Senators including Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ), Menendez (D-NJ) and Gillibrand (D-NY) urged Senate Majority Leader Reid to not forget infrastructure in any Senate jobs bill push. As the Senate stalemate over job creation vs. deficit spending continues, millions of Americans are left stranded at the station at a time when they need affordable travel options to get to work and look for work.
Image: Photo via Transportation for America.
