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Congress' Recess Ideal Time to Say Thanks, Show Value

As Congress shored up the nearly insolvent Highway Trust Fund with a $10.8 billion funding measure that passed hours before members left Washington, DC, for a five-week recess, APTA members said their summer advocacy efforts would now shift to thanking their delegations for addressing the short-term problem and reminding elected leaders of the need for long-term solutions.

APTA Legislative Committee Chair Jeff ­Nelson, general manager, Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District, Moline, IL, said public transportation leaders need to send a clear message to Congress. “Let’s work hard to find a consistent source of funding that will allow us to establish a multi-year program for transit and highways.”

Nelson pointed to APTA’s efforts over the past 18 months to develop a comprehensive set of ­recommendations for a new surface transportation bill. (The report, APTA Recommendations on Federal Public Transportation Authorizing Law to Succeed MAP-21, is available here.)

“As we talk to members of Congress, we need to describe our story and the impact on our communities,” Nelson said. Further, he said that short-term, piecemeal funding is difficult in planning long-term projects.

He added that the August recess is an ideal opportunity for public transit agencies to contact their members of Congress. “With record ridership at many agencies, the timing is right for Congress to establish a long-term transportation program. Let them know the need for a stable, dependable source of funding” that will allow agencies to complete projects.

“We need to fund this program,” Nelson said. “Congress has not been proactive in finding a solution to fund the program. This latest attempt is very short-term, more diversion of funds than actual funding.”

Private Sector Messages
Cliff Henke, assistant vice president and senior analyst for Parsons Brinckerhoff in Los Angeles, and chair, Business Member Government Affairs Committee, offered similar observations.

“Businesses work best when they have a secure and stable knowledge of the market environment going forward. There’s no better way of ensuring that an environment will remain stable than to support the Highway Trust Fund,” Henke said, suggesting that public transportation leaders convey this message to their members of Congress.

“Thank them for passing the short-term extension, which is better than letting the fund go bankrupt,” Henke said.

“We are ready and eager to make the business case to our policy makers. Many times the message that $3 out of every $4 flow to the private sector is best made by the private sector. We can be the face of those public ­sector dollars flowing to the private ­sector,” he said.

In addition, Henke pointed to the importance of a multi-year bill. “Part of the reason there have been band-aids put on this problem over the years has been the lack of trust fund revenue that is sustainable so you can craft a sensible six-year bill. It all comes back to that trust fund issue,” he said. “The long-term trust fund and a six-year fully funded transportation bill must go hand in hand.”

Next Up: Authorization
“It’s great that some action was taken to keep highway and transit funds flowing for the short term, but the job’s not done,” said Carl Sedoryk, co-chair of APTA’s Authorization Task Force and general manager and chief executive officer, Monterey-Salinas Transit, CA.

“We need a long-term transportation bill with growth—one that allows us to meet the challenges that Congress has laid before us to maintain safe, reliable, dependable transit systems that meet the requirements of MAP-21 for transportation asset management and state of good repair of systems,” added Sedoryk,

He advised public transit leaders to focus on APTA’s recommendations as a whole because they relate to and benefit all transit modes and all communities that depend on public transportation.

“Each individual transit operator may have an interest in one specific program versus another,” he said, “but the most important thing we can accomplish is a long-term authorization for all.”

In addition, he said that one of his tasks is to contact public transit leaders who are not APTA members but are represented by key elected representatives and explain how all transit agencies benefit from the association’s recommendations.

“We need to reach out to those folks who are not APTA members and get them—and their elected delegations—on board. The short-term funding is encouraging but we can’t allow it to become the ‘new normal’ in how we fund the transportation program we need.”

APTA Advocacy Tools
In support of its grassroots advocacy campaign, “Where Public Transportation Goes, Community Grows,” APTA has created a wide array of materials to help members communicate with elected leaders, riders, and other stakeholders.

This fall, as people end summer vacations and head back to work, public transit agencies can access “ready to use” advertisements that specifically focus on public transportation’s competitive edge, which depicts the importance of transit in connecting employees to jobs and employers to employees.

Find the materials here and search on advocacy & outreach.

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