Chalking up a win for U.S. public transportation, the Biden-Harris administration is injecting a historic $20.5 billion into transit systems nationwide. This federal funding boost, set to energize urban and rural communities alike, was unveiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The cash infusion hails from President Biden's Investing in America game plan and represents the largest cash flow to date in backing for public transit, according to an announcement from the DOT.
Big Apple commuters and city-dwellers across the country can start to look forward to improved and expanded transit routes and modernized infrastructure. In an effort to directly support and to absolutely revolutionize the way folks travel, these funds focus on aging systems—subways, buses, light rail—and gear up for planning new transit corridors. "As part of President Biden's infrastructure plan, we’re making history’s biggest-ever federal investment in transit – trains, buses, ferries, and more – so people can reliably and affordably get to wherever they need to be," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated, signaling a massive uptick in resources for America's transit-reliant cities.
The megabucks aren't being handed out willy-nilly, though. This year's funding strategy is hitched to the back of the 2020 Census which shuffled the deck for urbanized area boundaries, leading to some regions either surpassing or falling short of the 50,000-resident mark that dictates fund distribution. A portion of the funding relies upon the transit agencies' 2022 ridership stats, reflecting the ups and downs of post-pandemic commuting.
Acting FTA Administrator Veronica Vanterpool hinted at a nationwide spread of this financial boon. "We are pleased to provide billions of dollars in federal support to communities thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law," she shared. Transit funds reach communities large and small, which depend on this funding to start new projects, fix old infrastructure, and ensure fast, safe, convenient service." It's clear this spending spree is aimed to not just maintain, but to completely reshape public transportation, cultivating access and easing movement for citizens across every zip code.
From helping people get to work to connecting them to essential services, these dollars are set to stretch far and wide—to the tune of 65 percent of FTA's funding—across formula programs. Additional support zeroes in on rural transit, buses and facilities, transit equipped for seniors and the disabled, planning funds, and repair backlogs. Earlier this year, the FTA shot out $9.9 billion in partial apportionments under a Continuing Resolution, which was just a slice of the full funding pie being doled out now. It seems the train tracks to transit improvement got their missing link, and it's clinking with the sound of billions.
