May 19, 2017
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FTA's Welbes: Existing Funding Provides 'Stability and Predictability'; Thanks APTA, Members for Support

FTA Executive Director Matthew Welbes thanked APTA and its members for their strong support when he addressed the FTA Update General Session, specifically noting the association’s advocacy efforts for retaining public transit funding at FAST Act levels in the recently passed FY 2017 omnibus appropriations bill, which will provide “stability and predictability for FTA grantees.”

He said, based on President Trump’s FY 2018 skinny budget proposal, FTA would make good on Full Funding Grant Agreements but will no longer enter into new agreements. Welbes expects the administration to release its final FY 2018 budget proposal the week of May 27, after which it goes to Congress for review.

“DOT Secretary Elaine L. Chao has experience in the department,” Welbes said, “and we’re pleased to see that she has listed safety, infrastructure and innovation as her priorities.”

Regarding state of good repair, Welbes said the federal government needs to spend $26 billion a year in transit capital to maintain SGR, in addition to the $90 billion required to bring the nation’s infrastructure up to SGR levels. “We must prepare for the future while paying off debts from the past,” he said.

Welbes emphasized that “on the safety front, public transportation is the safest mode of surface transportation.” However, he cautioned bus professionals in the 30 states with rail transit systems that their agencies will be affected if their states’ State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOA) do not achieve FTA approval and certification by April 15, 2019. If a state fails to get the SSOA certified by the deadline, he said, FTA must withhold all FTA funds from all recipients in that state.

He spoke about the multi-level partnership among FTA and its state and local partners, which takes the specific needs of communities into account. In Reno, for example, FTA is working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County to create Lincoln Line BRT on part of the historic Lincoln Highway, a plan that incorporates sidewalks and bike lanes.

“We were providing ‘sharing economy’ experience long before that term was coined,” Welbes said. He also pointed to the need to identify innovations for public transit projects and for “statutory, legislative and guidance changes to accelerate project delivery.”

Following his remarks, Welbes introduced a panel of FTA employees who responded to audience questions. Attendees posed questions to the panel on topics ranging from ways that TOD can strengthen connections between public transit and real estate development to workforce development initiatives and the role of mobility-on-demand services compared with transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft.

Also during the session, Welbes presented a video, “Keeping America on the Move,” describing FTA’s support of bus agencies in more than 3,000 U.S. communities of all sizes providing 5.3 billion rides in 2016. The video is available here.

The FTA panel included Executive Director Matthew Welbes; Bruce Robinson, deputy associate administrator, Office of Program Management; Cecilia Comito, assistant chief counsel; Gwo-Wei Torng, director of mobility and innovation, Office of Research and Innovation; Monica McCallum, supervisory equal opportunity specialist, Office of Civil Rights; and Duane Weeks, director of planning, Office of Planning and Environment.
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