Norton to Make Urgent Call for Transit and Bus Funds and for Long-Term Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill at APTA’s Legislative Conference, Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ranking Member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, tomorrow will address the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) 40th Annual Legislative Conference at 9:00 a.m. at the J.W. Marriot Hotel (1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW). Norton will emphasize the increasingly serious effect of delay of a surface transportation reauthorization bill on the nation's transit and bus systems.
"The current surface transportation authorization bill, which expires May 31st, is not about only roads and bridges," Norton said. "For millions of Americans, particularly for those in this city and region and for those in smaller towns and rural areas, it is about the transit and busses that use those roads and bridges. The effect of eleven years without a long-term reauthorization bill is crippling public transit. Jobs and urgent capital improvement projects are at stake, while Congress acts as if none of this is required federal funding. We misjudge Americans if we think they are unwilling to pay for transportation."
Last month, Norton introduced a bill to permanently restore parity between commuter transit and parking benefits to increase public transit ridership. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority recently considered raising fares and reducing service in response to decreasing ridership because of the reduction in the transit benefits.