Federal Transit Administration
Basics
Trump Administration Withholding $1.4 Billion in Transit Funds Authorized by Congress
The money is ready and waiting. Yet only one transit project has received funding this fiscal year, putting more than a dozen others in jeopardy.
August 13, 2018
Slowly and Stealthily, Trump’s DOT Starves Transit Expansion Projects of Federal Funds
The Trump administration has slowed the release of federal transit grants to such a crawl that expansion projects in the works for years are now in jeopardy.
July 18, 2018
Only Six Cities Are Worthy of Rail Funding, Manhattan Institute Scholar Decrees
A new report from Manhattan Institute senior fellow Aaron Renn argues that the federal government should stop supporting new rail lines in cities across the country.
May 4, 2017
What If There Was No Highway, Transit, or Rail Agency — Just U.S. DOT?
“Highway people like highways, transit people like transit, rail people like rail,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said yesterday at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. “But our transportation system should be greater than the sum of its parts.”
January 16, 2014
Will Old Transit Systems Eat Up All the New Starts Grants?
One of MAP-21’s many mixed blessings was the New Starts Core Capacity program. It expanded eligibility for New Starts grants -- normally reserved as capital assistance for new transit lines -- to existing corridors. To qualify, the system just had to show that the improvements would expand the capacity of the line by at least 10 percent.
December 17, 2013
Shutdown: Congress Prepares to Furlough One-Third of U.S. DOT Staff
Looks like we’re heading for a real, honest-to-goodness government shutdown tomorrow due to a childish Congressional food fight over budgets and health care. Already this year, thousands of government employees faced furloughs due to sequestration, and now they're looking at an indefinite unpaid leave. It'll last until Congress can play nice and make a deal on the budget and health care, and who knows when that will be.
September 30, 2013
Lawmakers Fret About Impact of Budget Cuts on Transit
“In 2014, federal investment in surface transportation -- which is currently about $50 billion per year -- will drop to $6 billion or $7 billion. In one year.”
March 14, 2013
Sequester Would Cut New Starts By $100M, Could Trigger FTA Furloughs
The consequences of the near-certain sequester for aviation have been well publicized by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's recent media blitz, but less well-known are the effects for surface transportation.
February 28, 2013
FTA Grapples With Likely Funding Cuts
After fighting to maintain reasonable funding levels in the transportation bill – and for the inclusion of dedicated transit funding in the first place – the Federal Transit Administration now finds itself up against almost certain funding cuts that imperil rail and bus expansion projects, as well as the agency's own staffing.
January 18, 2013
FTA Opens the Door For More Transit Expansions to Receive Federal Funding
One of the most important federal transit programs has undergone a makeover, and transit advocates are cheering the results.
January 7, 2013