APTA Leaders Emphasize Public Transit Impact on Economy During Hill Meetings
3/6/2025
Several APTA agency and business member leaders came to Washington, DC, March 4-6, to meet with Senators and Representatives to discuss how public transportation investment impacts the U.S. economy and creates and sustains millions of family-wage jobs.
During meetings, APTA members emphasized how 77 percent of federal funding for public transportation flows to U.S. businesses. Sustained federal funding is essential to provide the business certainty to continue to grow private-sector investment and onshore more industry manufacturers. Participants also highlighted the critical role that public transit agencies play in getting people to work, medical appointments, and recreation.
APTA members met with more than 15 Members of Congress and staff, including Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), chair of the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee; Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), chair of the Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Sen. David McCormick (R-PA); Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL); Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL); Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT); Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT); and the bipartisan committee staffs of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
APTA participants included: APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas; Beth Holbrook, chair, APTA Legislative Committee, and member of the Utah Transit Authority Board of Trustees; Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., past APTA chair, and CEO, Jacksonville (FL) Transportation Authority; Raymond Melleady, chair, APTA Business Member Board of Governors, and president, STER Seating North America; Caroline Decker, chair, APTA Business Member Legislative Subcommittee, and senior vice president of federal government affairs, WSP; and Christopher Zappi, vice chair, APTA Business Member Legislative Subcommittee, and senior director of global strategy & marketing, Wabtec Corporation.
In addition, APTA sent a letter to all 541 Members of Congress to discuss the benefits of public transportation to the U.S. economy, noting that, in addition to 77 percent of federal public transportation investments flowing to the private sector, every $1 billion invested creates or sustains 50,000 family-wage jobs in manufacturing, technology, and services. The letter also urged Congress to fully fund public transportation in the FY25 THUD Appropriations Act, including $21.9 billion for public transit and $20.6 billion for passenger rail.