Economic Engine: Transit’s Return on Investment

Federal funding has been the lifeblood for many transportation organizations, allowing them to deliver jobs and vitally needed transit services to millions of Americans. Looking ahead, continued robust investment is needed to ensure that companies locate to—or remain in—areas where they can provide good jobs and services, a panel of executives said at the Economic Engine: Transit’s Return on Investment session at APTA’s 2025 Legislative Conference in Washington, DC.

The transportation sector, thanks in large part to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, has produced enormous returns on the government’s investment, panelists said, offering numerous examples of how federal funding allowed their companies, and the communities in which they are based, to flourish.

“When we look at where we want to locate our maintenance hub, and our signaling hub—that’s going to be where communities invest in those things,” said Lucy Andre, general counsel and corporate secretary at Stadler US Inc.

Andre said her company employs some 600 workers at a manufacturing hub in Salt Lake City, UT, in addition to maintenance facilities around the U.S. Another facility, a signaling project, is planned for Atlanta, she said. The availability of future funding will allow her company to continue to expand its operations.

“We’ve made an attempt to definitely comply with ‘Buy America,’ to enhance our U.S. manufacturing base and be an important player in the transportation industry here. We need to go where communities are willing to invest, and that’s a federal and a local investment in their own communities, and in us,” Andre said.

Jennifer McNeill, vice president of public sector sales and marketing for New Flyer, said her company delivers 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles each year—with the positive economic benefits felt directly at the community level.

“In terms of our economic investment, we are a $3.1 billion company. Of that, more than half comes from U.S. public transportation contracts. And as we see that flow down through our supply chain, we spend more than $1.2 billion with suppliers in 42 states,” McNeil said. “It is a real testament to the power of the federal transportation dollars.”

“We go back to the 1880s when it comes to transportation—it’s in our blood. We helped design and develop the first subway in New York City, so we’re very proud of that,” said Caroline Decker, senior vice president and national rail business director at WSP. “We’re bringing innovation to all of the changing needs we are facing across the country.”

John Hroncich, North America director for transit sales at BAE SYSTEMS, said that, as is the case with his peer transportation companies, his company’s presence is found in large cities as well as in rural hamlets.

“Not only do we do the technology and innovate, we also enable the technology and support our product in the field,” Hroncich said. “In terms of being involved in our communities, we’re training alongside the bus technicians and the bus operators. We’re working with planners on how to deploy both low- and zero-emission buses.”

While the transportation executives stressed just how important federal investment is to their companies’ bottom lines, as well as to the communities where they are based, they also shared cautionary tales of the headwinds they could face if federal funding dries up.

“In the small town of Hornell, 8,000 people, New York MTA trusted us to deliver a thousand subway vehicles … There were 1,200 jobs in the plant,” said John Cohen, vice president of public affairs at Alstom. The global company has some 80,000 employees—4,000 of whom work in the U.S.

“The town was booming. That finished in 2010. We didn’t have a project behind us, and it died,” Cohen said. “We went from 1,200 employees to 22.”

Cohen said the devastating impacts were immediately felt in the community. “Main Street died … All the restaurants closed. We have a lot of suppliers around the community. All of a sudden, they couldn’t invest, and they started cutting people, too,” he said.

But, he said, turnaround from re-investment in transportation projects in rural America can be just as dramatic.

“When the Amtrak high speed train project came … the lift was absolutely remarkable. We saw suppliers go the other way. They started investing in being able to meet the new demand,” he said. Not only did businesses flourish anew, but a local hospital that had been poised to close reversed course, Cohen noted.

“That money is just flowing down into the communities and really making a powerful difference in people’s lives.”

Leanne Redden, APTA vice chair and executive director, Chicago Regional Transportation Authority, moderated the session.

View more images from the Legislative Conference here.