The funding amount represents a 58% gain over 2021 when transit agencies across the country aspire to bring riders back as businesses and events reopen.
“This represents the largest transit funding allocation in American history,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on a call with reporters Wednesday morning.
The dollars will go to large subway systems in municipalities such as New York and Washington and much smaller systems used to help seniors and those without cars reach destinations in rural areas.
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The funding will buy new buses and rail cars, address repair backlogs, and “address climate change” with new technology, according to a press release detailing the announcement. It also includes a buy-American requirement to purchase steel, iron, and other materials, extending a Trump-era push to increase U.S. manufacturing.
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Transit agencies have seen shocking ridership decreases owing to virus-related moves that kept workers at home and many restaurants and entertainment venues shut. The Washington, D.C., Metro system saw ridership decline as much as 90% between 2019 and 2021, and it continues to struggle with sidelined trains and delayed projects.
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During the press call, Buttigieg spoke of endeavors to keep prices down and ensure efficient use of the funding. He praised transit as a way to address pollution and reduce congestion, even for drivers who would benefit from having fewer competing cars on the road.
Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor who is now Biden’s infrastructure czar, also touted the relative affordability of transit.
“This is an investment in making your life easier, safer, and less expensive,” he said. “These funds will allow thousands of transit agencies in every state in our nation to make the transit experience better for our communities.”
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As it backs a bill designed to help the United States compete with China, the Biden administration also aimed toward keeping Midwestern voters in its camp with pledges to drive manufacturing jobs and eliminate outsourcing.
President Joe Biden held a meeting last week with state lawmakers, Cabinet members, and critical industry executives to support the Bipartisan Innovation Act, the name given to a pair of bills that have passed the House and Senate since Biden took office.
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“Just last week, in my State of the Union message, I said we’re seeing the revitalization of American manufacturing, especially in the industrial Midwest,” Biden said during the meeting. “Our economy created 432,000 new manufacturing jobs in America since we took office, and today, companies are choosing to build new factories here in the U.S., when just a few years ago, they would’ve built them overseas.”
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