June 19, 2019 – Legislation preventing transit agencies from buying new rolling stock from Chinese-owned manufactures has been included in the annual Pentagon authorization bill now pending in the Senate.
At the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), we’ve shifted our priorities to address long-term challenges, giving us the ability to adapt and maneuver in the short-term. We now collectively think and act as the mobility integrator of Northeast Florida rather than just a provider of public transportation.
May 17, 2019 – The full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing yesterday on the participation of state-owned entities in the public transportation and freight rail sectors. The clear focus was the impact that the state-owned Chinese rail company CRRC is having on the U.S. mass transit rail car market, and on the independently-owned but state-subsidized electric bus company BYD’s entrance into the transit bus market as well.
April 24, 2019 – On April 16, Sound Transit and King County Metro, in partnership with the City of Seattle, introduced a new mobility on demand (MOD) service to examine and improve access to five Link light rail stations.
April 12, 2019 – The Federal Transit Administration on April 9 announced the allocation of $1.36 billion in appropriations for projects under the Capital Investment Grant program.
April 11, 2019 – Congress has chosen to let mass transit spending get significantly farther ahead of its dedicated revenue stream than highways has gotten ahead of its revenue stream, comparatively speaking.
April 11, 2019 – Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced that the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund has failed its forward-looking solvency test for fiscal year 2020. As a result, unless Congress passes new legislation fixing the problem, apportionments of FY 2020 mass transit formula funding to transit agencies will be reduced by around 12 percent from the levels provided by the FAST Act.
March 28, 2019 – The Senate subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies held a hearing on March 27 inviting Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao as a witness to review the FY20 budget request for USDOT.