Reported by Philip Plotch for ENO Center for Transportation.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing, titled “America Builds: A Review of Our Nation’s Transit Policies and Programs.”
The subcommittee invited four witnesses to testify:
- Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., Chief Executive Officer, Jacksonville Transportation Authority; on behalf of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
- Barbara K. Cline, Executive Director, Prairie Hills Transit; on behalf of the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
- Matthew Booterbaugh, Chief Executive Officer, RATP Dev USA; on behalf of the North American Transit Alliance (NATA)
- Baruch Feigenbaum, Senior Managing Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation
- Greg Regan, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
Safety and crime were topics raised by numerous members of Congress and the witnesses who testified.
Regan said, “While we’ve made significant investments in physical assets, we have systematically neglected the most essential component of any transit system: the workers who make it function.” He said frontline professionals face an unprecedented convergence of threats: physical assaults, destabilizing fiscal cliffs that threaten service reliability, a technological revolution being deployed without adequate safety frameworks, and an administration openly hostile to their right to organize.”
Regan applauded the IIJA’s requirement that transit agencies report all assaults, not just ones that resulted in a fatality or an ambulance transport. He urged the subcommittee to mandate minimum vehicle design safety standards for transit vehicles, and provide operating funds that can be used for policing, monitoring security cameras, and transit ambassadors. He also argued “The deployment of automated vehicle technology in public transportation—absent a clear, enforceable federal framework—poses a significant risk not only to public safety but to the workforce that keeps our transit systems running.”
Tony Wied (R-WI) acknowledged that public transit is vital for those who have no other means to travel, but he argued the federal government cannot continue to mindlessly throw money at public transit systems and hope they’ll become successful and self-sustaining. He argued that it is time to reexamine our approach, and he pointed to fare evasion as a problem across the country, and crime deterring people from using transit.
Jerry Nadler (D-NY) noted that New York City subway crime is at its lowest level in nearly 30 years, thanks to federal investments in cameras, operator barriers, safety teams, and training.
Read more here.