‘What Are The Strategies To Make This Better?’: Jeff Van Drew Asks Witnesses About Rural Transit

4 months ago

During a House Transportation Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) questioned witnesses about improving public transportation in rural areas.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Van Drew. Thank you Chairman and just before I begin I want to associate

00:05myself with the remarks of Congressman Stober who just spoke a little while

00:09before. I would maintain whether you are union, non-union, whether you are a

00:14passenger, whether you are a repair person, just an American, whether you're a

00:20resident, people want to be safe and some of the attitudes and philosophies

00:24unfortunately in some areas and they are unfortunate because we no longer

00:31enforce the law. When people do bad things, when they commit crimes, they have

00:37to be punished. That's just fair. That's fair and equitable justice so I think

00:42Mr. Stober brought some good points out but I'm not here to speak about that.

00:47I actually I'm gonna ask forgiveness from my colleagues on both sides of the

00:52aisle because I'm gonna speak a little bit in a parochial way. I'm gonna speak

00:55about southern New Jersey. For those of you are familiar at all, southern New

00:59Jersey is much different than the northern part of the state which is very

01:02compressed, very packed, which is the suburbs of New York City. Southern New

01:07Jersey is beach and Bay, even rural. We have lots of farmland and of course I

01:13have the largest congressional district geographically in the state of New

01:17Jersey. It's almost half of the state and my district has perpetually been

01:21suffering from a lack of access to public transportation. We're seeing the

01:26most impact of this is people's ability to get to their doctors, to get to their

01:30pharmacies, to get to their grocery stores. It's real and it's a problem. I

01:34know it's not easy because it costs a lot of money but coupling this with the

01:38concern of small and local physicians and pharmacies, their doors are closing.

01:43Many of them, it's changed. They're big centers. Many people are, especially the

01:48older population, are traveling greater distances than ever before. So over the

01:53years I've personally worked with groups such as the South Jersey Transportation

01:57Planning Organization, New Jersey Transit to address these concerns but I want to

02:03push it a little further. Believe it or not, I want to learn. So at this time I'm

02:07asking all of you for any suggestions, all of you in your field, to provide

02:11guidance, suggestions, assistance, whatever we can do at the federal level to bring

02:16more public transportation to my home in my district of South Jersey. It still

02:22matters there. We have many people who retire there from the city of

02:25Philadelphia, from other areas. During the summer season it's not as much of an

02:29issue because the routes have increased our population in some of our towns by

02:34July 4th because we're so tourist driven. It goes up tenfold sometimes. So are

02:40questions that we can now start from the beginning, just go right through. Are there

02:44any specific groups that you all think that my team should be working with? What

02:48avenues have you seen to be most successful? Dusty touched on it a little

02:52bit, Congressman Johnson I should say, in public transportation in rural areas. What

02:57are the strategies to make this better? Not every town is a teeming city. There

03:03are places that are more spread out and more rural. So I appreciate you being

03:07here. I appreciate your advice. I really mean it. So I'm gonna start with you and

03:12go right on down the line. Thank you.

03:17Everything you said, you know, it is, we see it. You know, ridership is important

03:23but how you connect people to where they need to go, those critical

03:26services, particularly in rural areas, is real. And through the funding that we

03:32received, because the way that FTA works, we're considered an urban, urbanized

03:36transit system, and so our funding comes through 5207. The rural transit systems

03:40are funded under a different category, if you will, and I think it's taking a

03:44look at, again, how that we work closely with our rural provider and understand

03:50the challenges that they have. And again, many times every single year we invest

03:55in that rural transit system in the spirit of partnership, knowing that the

03:59needs of those in the rural community are real. They have a difficult time

04:03getting, like to your point, to a pharmacy, to a doctor's office, just to get

04:06groceries. And so a suggestion I would make, again, is looking at that

04:12funding piece that goes to the rural portion and understanding if it's

04:17adequate. From what I've been told, at least from our rural provider, it's a

04:21challenge. And so funding continues to be a challenge, not only in the urbanized

04:25areas, but also in rural areas. And you'll hear me say this again and again, if

04:29you've seen one transit system, you've seen one transit system, they are all

04:32funded differently. It is that three-legged stool. So at the local level, if it's

04:38sales tax or property tax, that varies all across the United States. And the

04:43level of funding that you get from the local or state level will depend on how

04:47much service you're going to provide. Fair revenues only cover about 30% of

04:50operating, and that's across the board. And so again, it is looking at that

04:55investment. When you invest in transit, you're investing in the economy, you're

04:57investing in the quality of life for people in your community. So it is

05:01looking, again, at those funding levels, and are they adequate to even meet the

05:04needs of your community, those rural community residents, and working

05:09closely with the FTA in terms of those funding mechanisms that are

05:13specifically addressed for rural transit agencies. I thank you. It was a good

05:18answer, and you ended up speaking for everybody, but that's good, and I yield

05:22back. Gentleman yields, Ms. Titus. Well, thank you very much. MJ, I was proud to

05:29join.

‘What Are The Strategies To Make This Better?’: Jeff Van Drew Asks Witnesses About Rural Transit

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