OVERVIEW
- Public transportation (also known as public transit, mass transit, or mass transportation) is defined in federal law (49 U.S.C. §5302) as “regular, continuing shared-ride surface transportation services that are open to the general public or open to a segment of the general public defined by age, disability, or low income. (excerpted from CRS)
- The main forms of public transportation are bus, heavy rail (subway and elevated), commuter rail, light rail, paratransit (also known as demand response), and ferryboat.
- About 50% of public transportation trips are made by bus;
- 36% by heavy rail;
- 5% by commuter rail;
- 5% by light rail (including streetcars);
- 2% by paratransit; and
- less than 1% by ferries.
- Since the end of the Second World War providers of public transportation have struggled to maintain ridership due to a number of interrelated factors, particularly rising incomes, growing automobile availability and use, and residential and employment decentralization.
- Despite the long-term trend, ridership has risen over the past two decades from a low in 1995 of 7.8 billion trips to 10.7 billion trips in 2013.Public transportation accounts for about 2% of all daily trips and about 5% of commute trips.
- About 74% of all public transportation trips are made in 10 large urbanized areas: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami, and San Diego. The New York City urbanized area alone, an area that includes parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, accounts for about 4 of every 10 public transportation trips nationally.
Funding and Financing Public Transportation
- For many years, federal surface transportation programs were funded almost entirely from taxes on motor fuels which have not been increased at the federal level since 1993. (excerpted from CRS, Funding and Financing Public Transportation)
- Prior to the Great Recession, annual increases in driving were sufficient in most years to keep revenue rising steadily, but this is no longer the case.
- Although vehicle miles traveled have recently surpassed pre-Recession levels, future increases in fuel economy standards are expected to reduce motor fuel consumption and fuel tax revenues.
- Since 2008 Congress has financed the federal surface transportation program by supplementing fuel tax revenues with general tax revenues.
- The most recent reauthorization act, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act; P.L. 114-94), was enacted on December 4, 2015, and authorized spending on federal highway and public transportation programs through September 30, 2020.
- The act provided $70 billion in general fund transfers to the HTF to support the programs over the five-year life of the act.
- Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections indicate that the HTF revenue shortfalls will reemerge following expiration of the FAST Act.
- Financing Options:
- Raising motor fuel taxes could provide the HTF with sufficient revenue to fully fund the program in the near term, but may not be a viable long-term solution due to expected declines in fuel consumption. It would also not address the equity issue arising from the increasing number of personal and commercial vehicles that are powered electrically and therefore do not pay motor fuel taxes.
- Replacing the fuels tax with a mileage-based road user charge or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) charge would need to overcome a variety of financial, administrative, and privacy barriers, but could be a solution in the longer term.
- Treasury general fund transfers could continue to make up for the HTF’s projected shortfalls but could require budget offsets.
Federal Transit Administration Grant Programs Under FAST
Public Transportation: Resources and Reports
- The leading resource is the annual APTA Fact Book. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of more than 1,500 public and private sector organizations, engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail.
- International Association of Public Transport (UITP) is a non-profit advocacy organization, based in Brussels, Belgium, for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific institutes and the public transport supply and service industry.
- CRS: Federal Public Transportation Program – In Brief Dec 2015
- CRS: Public Transportation Funding Authorized by the FAST Act Dec 2015
- CBO: The Highway Trust Fund and the Treatment of Surface Transportation Programs in the Federal Budget June 2014
- CBO: Anatomy of a Cost Estimate for Legislation Funding Transportation Programs June 2014
- CBO: Testimony on the Status of the Highway Trust Fund and Options for Financing Highway Spending May 2014
- CRS: Highway and Public Transportation Infrastructure Provision Using Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) March 2014
- CBO: Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1955-2014
Intercity and High-Speed Passenger Rail
