This story appears in today’s Free Press, at http://www.freep.com/article/20100522/NEWS05/5220387/1322/Rally-puts-transit-woes-in-spotlight

Rally puts transit woes in spotlight

Supporters say cuts hurting residents

By MATT HELMS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Union workers and supporters rallied Friday at Hart Plaza to support mass transit as transportation systems across the country cut services and lay off workers because of funding depleted by the recession.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Reps. John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, both Detroit Democrats, were among the speakers at the rally, which included the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26, representing Detroit Department of Transportation drivers.

“This may be the most critical issue of our times,” Jackson told about 75 people who attended the rally.

Jackson said transit’s ability to move people in environmentally friendly ways is crucial for the future. He said older cities across the country could be revitalized by efforts to improve and expand transit, similar to how Detroit was transformed into the Arsenal of Democracy for World War II. “The same Detroit that can make tanks also can make trains and make buses and put America back to work,” he said.

DDOT has cut bus routes and laid off more than 100 drivers in the last year. SMART, the suburban bus system, said it’s facing budget shortfalls beginning in 2012 that could lead to service cuts.

Transit agencies across the country are ditching workers, cutting routes and frequency of service and raising fares as revenues plummet. A recent survey by the American Public Transportation Association found that 84% of the nation’s transit systems have taken such measures or are considering doing so.

Transit supporters say sustained service is crucial to people who rely on it for commuting to work and for unemployed people to look for jobs.

Megan Owens, executive director of Detroit-based Transportation Riders United, said the Michigan Senate recently voted to cut $7 million from transit programs to help cover a projected $84-million shortfall in matching funds the state needs to get about $500 million in federal road funding.

Yet more people are using transit across the country and locally, Owens said. In Detroit, riders are waiting longer, spending more time to get around and forgoing trips to places along canceled routes.

“It’s having a real impact on people’s lives,” she said.

You are strongly urged to contact your Michigan legislator today in the House of Representatives to oppose Senate Transportation Bill 1164.  Yesterday the Republican-led Senate approved Senate Bill 1164 on a 21-17 vote.  The budget bill includes harmful cuts but no stable revenue sources in an attempt to come up with the $84 million Michigan needs to qualify for $475 million in federal matching transportation funds.  The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee for action.

Here’s two easy ways to contact your legislator:

1. Call 888-719-3087 to be automatically connected with your legislator’s office.
2. Visit the Contact Your Legislator Section of www.drivemi.org for an easy way to e-mail a message to your legislator after selecting your county location.

To view a press release regarding why transportation groups are opposing Senate Transportation Bill 1164, click here.

Make your voice heard.  Contact your legislator today!

You are likely voting today on SB 1164 as amended by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday afternoon. As a former legislator, I appreciate the difficult decisions you are struggling with in trying to address our state’s critical needs. However, please be advised that this Department of Transportation 2011 budget bill represents a disingenuous effort at circumventing the clear recommendations of the Transportation Funding Task Force (TF2), the “blue ribbon” committee appointed by the Governor and Legislative leadership and which released its recommendations in November, 2009; none of which have yet been enacted by this Legislature.  The Task Force, in its report, raised the clear need for greater investment in our state’s roads, bridges and public transportation infrastructure.  Subsequently, legislation has been introduced that would accomplish many of the recommendations made by the TF2. Those bills remain stuck in committees.

Further, SB 1164 is a clear raid upon Comprehensive Transportation Funds (CTF) intended for use in public transportation projects to provide the necessary $84 million state shortfall to fully match available federal road funds in 2011.  Not only is it a raid on earmarked CTF funds but it also takes state matching funds for the federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) program which will result in an even greater shortfall in matching available federal funds for public transportation projects in Michigan in 2011.

For several years MDOT has been failing to fully match available federal transit funds for use in Michigan with hard dollars, instead using “toll credits.”  In 2011 we were already predicted to fall short in matching federal transit dollars by approximately $30 million. (For every $1 the state puts in on the transit side, we have available $4 from the federal government.)  This $30 million shortfall is above and beyond the $84 million shortfall in matching federal dollars for road construction.  So the real need is not $84 million, but more on the order of $115 million.

SB 1164 merely “robs Peter to pay for Paul.”  It takes primarily from public transportation and gives to road construction, while compounding the problems we already have in failing to meet the state match for available federal funding.  To redirect these funds from their intended purpose to meet the match for federal road funds is, frankly, deceitful.

This is not a solution, it is a stopgap measure so that you can say you met the road funding match shortfall without raising the gas tax.  It is, at best, a one year fix for the road funding and, at worst, a long-term complication for our public transportation infrastructure funding.

As many of you know, during my tenure in the Legislature, I chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.  So I know what the line items mean and I also know the tricks that can be played in crafting a budget document. Please allow me to elaborate on some of the line items that are being cut under SB 1164, so that you may fully understand the impact this will have on transit across the state.

But before I address CTF line items, let’s consider this: In the State Transportation Fund (STF) there is the largest cut of all from Maintenance:  $40.3 million.  Now I ask you, does it really make sense to cut road maintenance in order to leverage more federal road dollars?

Let’s look at some of the public transportation line items:

Intercity Services: $725,000 These are Intercity Bus and Rail subsidies for Amtrak and Indian Trails to provide essential core route service. The majority of riders on intercity buses have no other alternatives to move from one part of Michigan to another.

Marine Passenger Services:  $60,000 These funds are utilized to transport residents daily to and from Drummond Island, Neebish Island, Sugar Island (in the Sault region) and Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.

Specialized Services: $521,100 This funding goes to transport primarily elderly and disabled, particularly in counties that have no other organized public transportation service. Often utilizing volunteer drivers, this program has been severely cut in the past several years and is failing to meet the far greater statewide need.

Municipal Credit Program: $300,000 The program helps to fund bus purchases, primarily in SE Michigan.

Transportation to Work/Work First: $2.3 million This one is the most egregious cuts and makes absolutely no sense, since these funds help leverage more federal transit dollars.  This is also known as the Job Access/Reverse Commute (JARC) program. It is used extensively by Flint MTA, The Rapid in Grand Rapids, and metro Detroit but also in many rural areas throughout the state. It gets people to and from work when they have no other way of accessing their jobs. Proponents of this cut say that this line item has lapsed funds in recent years; however, they likely won’t say that the need has been growing each year and that MDOT projects that the full recommended line item of $9.3 million will be fully needed in 2011.

Van Pooling: $19,500 This program has been all but destroyed from its high level in the 1990s. It is the state program that encourages people to carpool and rideshare to and from work by providing state matching funds for vans.

MDOT personnel could tell you what all of the other line items fund in great detail.  But this will give you a start to know that these are real programs that impact real people in your districts all across the state.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further clarification.

Sincerely,

Clark Harder
Executive Director
Michigan Public Transit Association
517-324-0858