Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

 

TO:

Dave Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Cliff Galante, Public Transit Administrator

 

CC:

Debbie Van Saun, Assistant City Manager

 

Date:

March 28, 2007

 

RE:

Staff Report about Legislative Trip to Washington, D.C.

 

 

The recent legislative trip to Washington, D.C., March 11th – 15th was extremely productive.  During this trip I attended the American Public Transportation Association’s Legislative Conference where I had the opportunity to hear a variety of Congressional Leaders address a spectrum of transit issues, including U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) who serves as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; U.S. Representative John Mica (R-Fla) who is a ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) who serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations; and Representative James Oberstar (D-Minn) Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

 

In addition, I had the opportunity to listen to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters and Federal Transit Administrator James S. Simpson.  Peters told the audience that transit is a “good federal investment because it is a common sense solution to a number of complicated mobility challenges, meaning that transit can multi-task.” 

 

Administrator Simpson announced that he and Peters signed off on the apportionments notice for Fiscal Year 2007 on March 12, just before his appearance at the APTA Conference.  The notice, which makes nearly $9 billion available to transit agencies, should appear during the week of March 12, in the Federal Register, he said.  In conjunction with the notice, Simpson said that FTA is seeking applications for more than $438 million in discretionary bus and bus facility program funds.

 

I also had the opportunity to hear from a few Congressional staffers discuss the ways Congress seeks to overcome budget shortfalls.  Specifically, a shortfall of $309 million in the President’s FY08 transportation budget has lawmakers worried that municipal services could suffer.  The President’s FY08 budget calls for $9.42 billion for transit instead of $9.73 billion authorized by SAFETEA-LU.  The lower figure would fund transit only “to safety level”, but staffers noted that many other federal budget levels are frozen, and recognized APTA’s efforts in educating lawmakers about the importance of transit.  Staffers also discussed a Senate bill that moved out of committee in February, to provide $3.5 billion for security measures.  It authorizes U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allocate the money to transit systems based on risk.

 

While attending the APTA Legislative Conference I was able to meet with many of my peers in the transit industry nationwide and discuss issues impacting our transit systems.  Adequate funding to address our needs is always a concern.

 

APTA President Bill Millar announced during the conference that 10.1 billion trips were conducted in FY06, the most amount of annual ridership in 49 years.  To put that number in perspective 10.1 billion trips is more than the number Americans who attended NFL games, Major League Baseball games, NBA games, NHL games, NASCAR races, went to the movies, and ate a hamburger from McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s combined.  Since 1995 ridership has grown 30% nationwide and is outpacing both the growth rate of our nation’s population (12%) and the growth rate in the use of the nation’s highway’s vehicle miles traveled (24%).  Millar then displayed to the crowd in attendance the March 12 USA Today cover story with the headline “Riders crowd public transit systems.”  Media outlets from around the country reported on the ridership increase.

 

During the Legislative Conference I also attended a Capitol Hill Briefing by U.S. Representative James McGovern (D-Mass) discuss legislation he is introducing that would equalize the transit commute tax benefit with that provided for parking.  Currently commuters can get $110 per month in transit benefits, but the monthly parking benefit is $215.

 

Also, while in Washington, D.C., I joined members of the Kansas Public Transit Association (KPTA) to meet with representatives of our Kansas Congressional Delegation to discuss specific public transportation issues impacting the State of Kansas as well as to discuss FY08 transit discretionary funding requests.  I had the opportunity to meet with Senator Sam Brownback and Landon Fulmer, Legislative Assistant from his staff; Joel Leftwich, Legislative Assistant representing Senator Pat Roberts, U.S. Representative Nancy Boyda and her Chief of Staff, Shanan Guinn; and U.S. Representative Dennis Moore and his Chief of Staff, Howard Bauleke.   KPTA informed our Congressional Delegation that Kansas public transit system’s in FY06 provided 9 million rides (7 million from the urban systems and 2 million from the rural systems).  Every member of the Congressional Delegation as well as their staffers all appeared to be responsive to public transportation needs in Kansas.