Ranking Members Larsen, Norton Statements from Hearing on Public Transit Ridership Post-Pandemic
Washington, D.C.—The following are opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, from Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) during today’s hearing titled, “Revenue, Ridership, and Post-Pandemic Lessons in Public Transit.”
Video of Ranking Member Larsen’s and Norton’s opening statements are here and here.
More information on the hearing can be found here.
Ranking Member Larsen:
Thank you, Chairman Crawford and Ranking Member Norton, for holding this hearing.
Today’s hearing allows the Committee to examine public transit operations and the unique challenges transit agencies face emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, we saw how communities across the country depend on their transit systems and how essential these services are.
Transit agencies and their workers played an important role. The dedicated public service of transit workers ensured doctors, nurses and other essential workers were able to get to their jobs.
That is why Congress delivered for transit agencies and their workers with nearly $70 billion in emergency funding. These dollars ensured that these essential mobility services kept operating.
Today, transit agencies are rising to the challenge as they explore new ways to provide efficient, safe and quality service while navigating the changing needs of riders and communities post-pandemic.
During the pandemic, some businesses shifted to remote work, people moved to new communities or states and many invested in buying a car or a bike as a mode of transportation.
Riders continue to return to transit, but current ridership volume nationwide is about 80 percent of what it was in 2019.
This drop in ridership has had lingering impacts on transit agency operations and budgets, which rely on fare revenue. In 2020, transit agency fare revenue nationwide dropped by nearly half, and roughly 50 percent of transit agencies reported having to make service modifications in response to the loss of riders and revenue.
As ridership has returned, fare revenue is also rebounding, but transit agencies continue to need to cover the gap in their operational costs.
Like so many parts of the transportation industry, many transit agencies have also had workforce challenges, which directly impacts service levels. While there is competition with the private sector for qualified commercial drivers, agencies have had some success with enhanced recruiting and retention programs and incentives.
In order to address these current challenges, agencies must start by reviewing the needs of their communities, how their legacy routes and operations can improve and what new service will grow ridership.
Public opinion surveys show that people want frequent service, more accurate trip information, routes that are more convenient for riders’ travel needs, cleaner vehicles and stations and improved safety on board vehicles.
Transit agencies are acting on this. Dozens of agencies across the U.S. are seeking public input as they redesign their bus networks, build new transit projects and adapt service levels for post-pandemic demands.
In my district, Community Transit has been leading several efforts to modernize and adapt service, including developing a new plan for a bus network redesign to prepare for light rail coming to Snohomish County this summer. This plan enhances bus connections with the new light rail station, expands access to routes with more frequent service and adjusts service levels based on post-pandemic rider trends.
This is a critical effort that ensures the agency is operating efficiently and responding to the changing needs of Northwest Washington travelers while improving the overall rider experience.
Additionally, Community Transit is working on more flexible service options to address transportation gaps in the community and better connect riders to hospitals, grocery stores, job centers and eventually the new Lynnwood Transit Center.
While transit systems were hard hit by the pandemic, we have seen positives in their response and recovery.
Transit remains an efficient, safe and affordable mode of transportation, and I know, as a former board member of Community Transit in my district and a rider of the metro—as recently as this morning—when I am in D.C.
Thank you to each of the witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to the discussion.
Ranking Member Norton:
I would like to thank Subcommittee Chair Rick Crawford for holding this hearing on public transportation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans were reminded just how important public transit is.
Millions of essential workers rely on public transit to get to their jobs. During the worst days of the pandemic, bus drivers, train operators, station managers and maintenance personnel risked their safety to make sure that other essential workers could get to their jobs.
In doing so, hundreds of public transit workers lost their lives to COVID-19. We owe them a debt of gratitude, along with our continued commitment to give public transit employees safe workplaces and fair compensation.
I would like to thank Greg Regan, the President of the Transportation Trades Department, for being here today on behalf of those workers.
The COVID relief funds, including the more than $30 billion provided by this Subcommittee as part of the American Rescue Plan, were part of our commitment to public transit workers and riders alike.
Congress built on that commitment with the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provided a record $108 billion in funding for public transportation.
Together, these investments—along with support from state and local governments—have created a foundation from which transit agencies can rebuild and recover.
Changes in ridership, travel patterns and commuting mean that transit agencies must rethink their service to ensure they can meet the needs of their communities.
Here in the nation’s capital, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has made several recent changes that have supported its recovery. Last year, it launched “Metro Lift,” a program to provide reduced transit fares to low-income residents.
It also increased service, including on nights and weekends, making public transit a more reliable and efficient option for travelers.
And Metro is also working on redesigning its bus network. The changes will be based on extensive public comments, with the goal of improving connectivity, equity and access.
Metro’s efforts are already paying off. Earlier this month, Metrobus ridership surpassed pre-pandemic levels, and Metrorail continues to show strong ridership recovery.
Metro’s success is critical to our region’s public transit riders. But it is critical to our economy—without public transit, our region would lose more than $9 billion worth of economic activity due to traffic gridlock, delays in freight shipments and lack of access to jobs—and to the environment.
And as we heard in recent testimony to this Subcommittee, public transit is also critically important to riders in suburban and rural areas, who depend on bus and paratransit service for access to jobs and medical appointments.
Public transit is also among the safest transportation modes and is ten times safer than driving.
The benefits of public transit are clear. It is equally clear that if we want the benefits that public transit brings, all levels of government must be willing to invest in it.
Like many other modes of transportation—including most highways—public transit systems are not intended to turn a profit.
The benefits from public transit investment include more successful businesses and stronger local economies. They include good jobs for public transit workers and connections to jobs for other workers. They include avoided traffic fatalities and fewer commutes down gridlocked highways. They include cleaner air and better health outcomes.
If those are the benefits we seek for our communities, we must be willing to invest in them. I look forward to working with colleagues to continue this Committee’s long history of supporting public transit.
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