How Better Funding For Transit Could Create 2 Million Additional Jobs

The idea of the stimulus package is to keep Americans employed. In part, this is being done by funding a massive series of construction projects. But, oddly, the bill provides only a small amount money for one of most potent and productive available means of creating new jobs.

In the $787 billion bill, only $742 million–less than a tenth of percent of the total–is being spent on new public transportation corridors. By comparison, $27.5 billion is being allocated to roads and bridges. Yet investing in transit creates nearly 20 percent more jobs than equivalent roads projects, according to the well-respected Surface Transportation Planning Project. The STPP estimates that 41,028 jobs are created for every $1 billion spent on new transit projects, compared to only 34,565 jobs for each billion dollars directed toward a new road or bridge.

It’s hard not to conclude that if the federal government wants to speed up the recovery, one excellent way to do so would be to increase spending on transit. The American Public Transportation Association argues that the federal New Starts program, which funds new subway, light rail, and bus rapid transit projects, should be increased steadily from $1.8 billion distributed annually in 2009 to $5.3 billion in 2015. If that money is distributed to municipalities at the usual share (60% federal funding, 40% local funding), the resulting $35.3 billion invested between now and 2015 would produce an eye-popping 1.1 million jobs. That impressive number is even calculated at APTA’s more conservative job creation estimate of 30,000 per billion spent.

On the other hand, if Washington continues to invest at existing levels — an average of about $2.2 billion over the next few years — about 430,000 potential jobs would be left on the table.

Of course, building new lines isn’t the only way to spend on public transportation. There is a $50 billion maintenance backlog required to get the nation’s top seven rail systems to a state of good repair, and increasing funds for the fixed guideway modernization program would go a long way in addressing that problem. The Federal Transit Administration recently recommended increasing investments by $4.2 billion a year over twelve years. That would create, by the way, 1.5 million jobs, according to APTA’s estimates.

Better transit systems and nearly 2 million additional jobs? Together that’s a strong argument.

Photo: Flickr - p0ps