Transit Operating Costs
Emergency Rally: Advocates Demand Gov. Newsom ‘Fund Transit Now’
All the major transit advocacy groups assembled Monday morning in downtown San Francisco to demand the city's former mayor (Governor Gavin Newsom) intervene and stop the cancellation of a vital $750 million state loan intended to keep the city moving.
September 8, 2025
Commentary: Illinois’s Transit Funding Flop Is a Cautionary Tale
Not funding transit agencies' basic operating needs is a political loser in any state.
June 3, 2025
California Is Getting Real about Transit Transformation
Meeting California’s ambitious climate goals will require getting people out of cars and on to trains and buses. That shift could require as much as a five-fold to ten-fold increase in transit ridership above pre-COVID levels by 2045.
March 26, 2024
Agencies Need to Use Federal Funding to Buy Land for Transit Oriented Development
Transit agencies do not prioritize transit-adjacent housing development often because they lack funding to acquire land.
February 29, 2024
Could This Bill Finally Give Transit Agencies the Operations Funding They Need?
Is it finally time for Congress to spend more to keep the buses and trains running?
February 1, 2024
Five Ways to Pull U.S. Transit Agencies Out of the Fiscal ‘Death Spiral’
Turning the transit industry's "doom spiral" into a "virtuous cycle" will require rethinking the foundations of how we fund mass transportation — and adding a whole lot of service.
November 2, 2023
‘Bidenomics’: Feds Seek to Promote Commercial Conversions Into Affordable Transit-Friendly Housing
The federal government is going back to the future to help solve three problems: vacant office space, global warming and high housing costs.
October 27, 2023
Talking Headways Podcast: Transit Expansion and Service in the Pandemic
This week we’re at the 2021 Virtual Railvolution conference. Adelee Le Grand, CEO of Tampa's transit system, moderates a panel featuring Debra Johnson of RTD in Denver, and Peter Rogoff of Sound Transit in Seattle. Johnson and Rogoff discuss progress in their regions and the effects of the pandemic.
November 18, 2021
Needed: A Federal Program to Boost Transit Service
On March 13, 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, the Federal Transit Administration responded to the emergency by enabling transit agencies to spend federal funds to run buses and trains. It was a break with longstanding policy.
April 22, 2021
Study: Free Transit Doesn’t Reduce Driving — But Does Increase Local Business Support
A new study finds that commuters with access to free public transportation don't drive any less — but they do take more leisure and shopping trips than those who have to pay their own fare, which could help provide local economies with the cash they need to provide a broader range of social services over time.
November 23, 2020
