Mike Collins Grills Witness On Public Transit Agencies Needing Govt To ‘Bail Them Out All The Time’

6 months ago

During a House Transportation Committee hearing last week, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) questioned witnesses about the finances of public transit agencies.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00The chairman now recognizes himself for five minutes.

00:06As someone that's made my living for 30 plus years in the trucking industry and being in the,

00:14my wife and I have owned a trucking company now for 30 plus years, I can tell you

00:19firsthand that our highway system is in need of a lot of improvement.

00:24My concern is that money will be diverted from the highway trust fund in order to pay for

00:31transit programs. And so what are transit agencies doing to improve the stability of their finances

00:39so that they are not dependent on the federal government to bail them out? And I would just

00:42like to go down the line for anybody who wants to tackle that question. Thank you for that question.

00:48I will, again, at the RTC, we are not only the public transit provider, we are the roadway

00:54funding agency. And we understand that, again, that it's an approach that takes for whether

01:02you are funding your highways or you're funding public transit, how you move people, goods and

01:08services matter. It's an economic, if you have a transportation problem, you have an economic

01:13problem, all those modes. And so I think, again, if you've got state or local efforts looking at

01:20how you fund, how various regions fund their roadways are different. In Southern Nevada,

01:25we had a ballot question in 2016 that passed overwhelmingly where we're indexing fuel tax

01:30to inflation. It allows us now, we have a lot more local money that isn't necessarily, that's

01:35a great match for any federal opportunities to, again, improve our roadway systems. And it would

01:42be the same for public transit. Again, they both matter, right? They both are a public good. And

01:47how roadways are funded, how the aviation system is funded, how transit's funded, it all matters

01:55in how we move, again, our goods and services. No, I understand that, but I don't think I've

01:58ever been subsidized with anything. Normally, we are the one that pays. And so that's where I'm

02:05leading to. What are the transit agencies out there doing to improve their own finances so

02:12that they're not dependent on the federal government to bail them out all the time?

02:18Again, thank you for that question. It's an industry that does not generate a profit.

02:23And I think, again, it takes local funding, state funding, and federal funding. And,

02:30again, it is a public good. When you invest in transit, you're investing in your community.

02:36I think certainly at the local level, many transit systems around the United States

02:41engage with their local elected officials to pass ballot initiatives and various funding

02:46mechanisms. Each transit system is funded differently to a certain degree. You've seen

02:51one transit system, you've seen one. So some transit systems, it's sales tax, property tax,

02:56DMV fees, Uber lifts. So I think it just depends on that local government. Okay, thank you.

03:05All right. I didn't know if anybody else wanted to tackle that one.

03:09That, well, that's all I had. I wanted to come by and ask that.

03:17Which one? With that, I yield back. Are there any further questions from any members of the

03:23subcommittee who have not been recognized? Seeing none, that concludes our hearing for today.

03:29I would like to thank each of the witnesses for your testimony. The subcommittee now stands adjourned.

Mike Collins Grills Witness On Public Transit Agencies Needing Govt To ‘Bail Them Out All The Time’

Category

Transcript

Recommended