Continued Federal Investment Vital for Public Transit

Federal funds for transit are an important investment in a public service that citizens have come to expect, according to an official of the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

"People consider mass transit a public service and there is an expectation that the Government assist with funding," says Barbara Sisson, Associate Administrator in FTA's Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation.

Public Transit doesn't serve only our major urban centers, Sisson notes. In FY03 there were 1,281 transit agencies that received federal funds for public transportation in rural and small urban areas (population under 50,000). Elderly and disabled riders receive service from another 3,660 agencies in the United States.

She made the remarks during a guest lecture for SURTC's Introduction to Mass Transportation course. The course is offered on the NDSU campus and is linked to universities and departments of transportation in North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming via the TEL8 system, a telecommunications link serving that region and designed to enhance transportation research, education and technology transfer.

The video course was linked to Sisson's office in Washington, D.C.

According to the American Public Transportation Association, the federal and state government provide about 18 percent of funding for public transportation. Local governments provide another 31 percent. According to Sisson, Federal funds are used mostly for capital investment and are prohibited from being used for operating costs for transit agencies serving urban areas of more than 200,000 people. Nationally, federal funds pay for about 51 percent of all transit capital investment.

The FTA's research program is designed to help transit agencies make the best use of those funds, Sisson says. "We look at innovations using off-the-shelf technology. We look at innovations using new technology or we look at ways of using both. We want to help the transit industry use resources in the most efficient and effective manner to move more people for less money."

The mission of FTA's research program is to "deliver solutions that improve public transportation". Goals of the program are to partner with the transit industry to:

• Increase transit ridership
• Improve safety and emergency preparedness
• Improve capital and operating efficiencies
• Protect the environment and promote energy security

Although light and heavy rail systems are included in the FTA's research program, buses are also a priority, Sisson says.

"Buses are the Rodney Dangerfield of Mass Transit; they don't get much respect. People see them as a crowded, unclean, and slow-moving way of getting around," Sisson says. "But in many areas, the majority of riders use buses as their means of transit."

One goal of the research program is to change this perception of buses. The research program includes testing of new bus models for safety, energy efficiency, durability, efficiency, noise, emissions and braking. The FTA also studies innovations such as fuel cell technology, alternative fuels, batteries and other technology that will make buses safer and more efficient.

"At the FTA, we're very concerned with ridership. If people are not riding mass transportation, then these resources are being wasted and their economic benefits are not fully realized in our communities."