Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye and the leaders of 14 public transportation agencies serving communities who generate 35% of the nation’s GDP in the United States requested additional emergency federal aid for transit systems in a joint letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. House of Representatives Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. The MTA’s own estimate shows that transit agencies nationwide will need an additional $32 billion to address the crisis for the rest of 2020 and through 2021.  Public transportation agencies across the country have been devastated by the coronavirus, and the crisis has worsened dramatically since the passage of the CARES Act – further decimating dedicated revenue streams, such as farebox, sales taxes, tolls, mortgage-related taxes and other user fees. As in previous national disasters, transportation agencies are also demanding assistance be delivered outside of traditional funding formulas and that replacement funds should be unrestricted.

-via press release