Build Back Better with More Bus Service from NACTO on Vimeo.
Recently, Executive Director LeeAnn Hall participated in a panel hosted by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). The panel discussed how federal support for transit operations can transform communities and how funding operations is critical to “Building Back Better” and meeting Biden’s equity, climate, and workforce goals.
Transit is an essential public service for all of us, not only those who ride it. Throughout 2020, 2.8 million essential workers relied on transit workers every day in the worst days of the pandemic. Transit has been and will be the backbone that connects communities and is essential to economic recovery in cities large and small.
Biden’s landmark American Jobs Plan and its proposal to double transit funding presents an incredible opportunity to improve transit and address the inequities that plague transportation systems across the US, while also reducing emissions, and making jobs easier to access.
However, the lack of dedicated operations funding in Biden’s plan means that it falls short of creating the robust transit systems required to address the nation’s transportation access, reliability and recovery needs. Americans want and deserve frequent and reliable transit. Transit that is infrequent, inconvenient and inaccessible cannot connect communities and bridge opportunity gaps. With less than one half of Americans within walking distance to any transit, let alone frequent service, there’s a lot of work to do to get people on board.
This event is presented with Alliance for a Just Society, Transportation for America, and the Natural Resources Defense Council
Event Speakers
- Beverly A. Scott, Ph.D. – CEO, Beverly Scott and Associates, LLC
- Mara Stark-Alcalá – Legislative Assistant, Senator Warnock
- Troy Miller – President, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 627 (Cincinnati Metro Area)
- Vivian Satterfield – Director of Strategic Partnerships, Verde
- Ben Fried – Communications Director, TransitCenter
- LeeAnn Hall – Executive Director, Alliance for a Just Society
- Kate Elliott – Senior Program Manager, NACTO