‘How Is DoT Trying To Help These Public Transit Agencies?’: Jack Reed Asks Buttigieg About Ridership

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During a Senate Appropriations hearing on Thursday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) questioned Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg about the bridge disruptions and helping public transit agencies.

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00:00 Senator Reed.

00:01 [Mr. Reed] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your gracious hospitality here in

00:07 letting me go.

00:08 And Senator Murphy and Senator Van Hollen, I am simultaneously chairing the Armed Services

00:12 Committee.

00:13 Mr. Secretary, we are all aware nationally of the collapse of the bridge in Baltimore,

00:21 which was a horrendous impact on that city. And we are supporting our colleagues in doing

00:28 everything we can to get it up and running.

00:31 But you know, since you visited, we had something similar in Providence, where the major bridge

00:37 that connects the east and west sides of the metropolitan area had to be closed, at least

00:43 the west lanes. And as a result, and you have seen it, our business community, our traffic,

00:52 our commuting, where young people might be going to school or not going to school, the

00:58 ability to get from your home to your hospital appointment has been completely disrupted.

01:04 It appears that the replacement of the bridge will cost about $360 million. That is way

01:11 beyond the capacity and way beyond our Federal highway allocation.

01:17 So I would ask you for your help to get us some emergency relief, at least make us eligible

01:25 for that, and your comment would be appreciated.

01:29 Thank you. I'm of course very conscious of the importance of this bridge, especially

01:33 after walking it at your invitation in Rhode Island and sitting with the mayor of East

01:38 Providence, understanding the impact, not just to those who count on it every day, but

01:41 to small businesses and the communities on both sides.

01:46 So our Federal Highway Administration will continue actively working with the Rhode Island

01:49 DOT to provide whatever support that we can. That's included technical support and assistance

01:56 in two main areas. First, traffic management and operations to deal with the disruption.

02:01 And secondly, involvement in supporting RIDOT, analyzing the current structure and developing

02:06 the RFP for the replacement structure, which I should note was just issued on April 29th.

02:12 While we have not been able to determine that there would be eligibilities for the ER program

02:18 as it stands, we do see how Federal-aid formula funding and discretionary funding could be

02:25 helpful here. And we're also working closely with RIDOT on identifying avenues and opportunities

02:30 there and, again, want to be a resource in any way that we can to help those communities

02:35 get back to normal and get that bridge into the State that it needs to be.

02:39 Thank you, Mr. Grant. And let me in particular thank you for coming up to Rhode Island. And

02:43 also the Director of the Federal Highway Administration. We appreciate very much your personal involvement.

02:52 And it might require legislative language to get Rhode Island on the list, and so we

02:58 will work to try to do that.

03:01 One other aspect of transportation is that transit, public transit, is facing a fiscal

03:07 cliff, as you know. The pandemic era flexible transit operating funding expired. That was

03:16 helping them make it through the crisis. And then ridership levels have not returned to

03:21 the pre-pandemic levels. And so how is DOT trying to help these public transit agencies

03:27 continue to function?

03:30 Thank you. We continue to be concerned about this. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, several

03:35 large urban areas are expected to face an operating shortfall. And allowing those systems

03:42 to decline would imperil our economy. Not only are there 370,000 direct jobs in play,

03:49 but the latest data I have on usage in the U.S. shows that even in 2022, at those diminished

03:55 post-COVID levels, there were 6 billion trips taken on public transit.

04:00 That's part of why our fiscal 2025 budget request for FTA proposes to allow urbanized

04:06 area formula funds and flex funds transferred from federal highways to be used for operating

04:11 expenses. We think that operational, that additional flexibility will be helpful to

04:17 transit agencies as they develop longer-term plans. And as we see ridership, though it

04:22 certainly has not stabilized to pre-COVID patterns, we do see an increasing return.

04:28 And so that we know that if reliability and frequency can be sustained, we can expect

04:34 to see continued use and continued revenue that comes with that.

04:38 Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. And as you know, transit is one of the principal

04:42 ways in which low-income families get to work and get to school and get through life. So

04:48 anything we do, I think, would be very helpful. And thank you for your distinguished service.

04:52 Thank you.

‘How Is DoT Trying To Help These Public Transit Agencies?’: Jack Reed Asks Buttigieg About Ridership

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