ATU Legislative Issue Brief

Each year, ATU has key legislative priorities on Capitol Hill. This year, our key issues are transit operating assistance, autonomous bus safety, microtransit, making it easier to join a union, and Fiscal Year 2025 Transit Funding.

Each Legislative Conference participant will be given this list of legislative priorities to drop off during their meetings on the Hill on Wednesday. Below please find background information for each of these issues. Reviewing these issue briefs before your meetings will help you make your case to Members of Congress and their staff. We will also be discussing these issues during our conference. If you have any questions about this information, please be sure to raise them during our conference.

ISSUE #1: Public Transportation Operating Assistance

Transit agencies nationwide are now approaching a fiscal cliff -- the steep drop in fare revenue that resulted from ridership losses during the Covid-19 pandemic and the looming expiration of federal relief funds that were provided to temporarily fill the gap. Nationwide, transit ridership has only partially rebounded, and many people continue to work from home in what looks to be a permanent shift in commuting patterns. Farebox revenue is way down, and transit-dependent people are about to pay the price through deep service cuts and steep fare increases. Layoffs are a strong possibility.

Thanks to record funding levels provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), our public transit systems are now able to purchase updated equipment, replacing aging buses and rail cars with newer, safer vehicles. However, most transit systems may not use Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds for operating assistance to maintain service levels and keep fares down. Under current law, with few exceptions, federal transit funds may only be used for capital expenses.

ATU SUPPORTS:

The Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act (H.R.7039 – Rep. Hank Johnson), and The Moving Transit Forward Act of 2024, (S. 4316 - Sens. Van Hollen and Fetterman), which establish grant programs to support operating assistance for public transportation and related service improvements, particularly in underserved communities and areas of persistent poverty. These bills will ensure that transit service is maintained for transit-dependent riders who rely on the bus or train to get where they need to go.

ISSUE #2: Microtransit Standards

As Congressional offices are pursuing discretionary U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grants for their communities, especially Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) and Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovative (ATTAIN) Grants, they should know that if such grants include microtransit features (app-based, on demand service that operates like transportation network companies), they could have an unintended negative impact on transit service and transit workers.

Microtransit fails to deliver on transit systems’ promises on improved efficiency, equity, or environmental benefits. Like other technology fads, the reality is less impressive and more expensive than the marketing suggests. Microtransit cannot efficiently scale to meet increased customer demand. It has been shown to serve a younger, more affluent, and less diverse ridership than fixed route service. And, its environmental benefit is doubtful, encouraging cost cutting through privatization and the degradation of transit jobs.

ATU RECOMMENDATIONS:

Rather than pursuing microtransit service, transit agencies and government leaders should prioritize efforts to improve the quality of existing fixed route bus and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit service.

However, if microtransit service is implemented:

It should not be used to replace or compete with existing fixed route and ADA paratransit and school bus services. No existing fixed route bus or paratransit employees, whether employed in-house or by a contractor, should be dismissed or displaced because of the establishment of microtransit service.
Work should be performed in-house by existing, experienced public transit employees, unless fixed route is performed by a contractor, in which case the contractor should directly hire all microtransit operators.
Independent contractors should be prohibited.
Microtransit operators should be required to hold a commercial driver’s license.
Microtransit operators should be compensated at no less than the existing wages, hours, working conditions, and benefits of current transit employees.

ISSUE #3: Autonomous Bus Safety

As Congress considers legislation authorizing autonomous vehicles (AVs), transit and school buses -- regardless of how much they weigh or how many people they carry -- should be off the table. States that are green lighting AV buses and putting Americans at risk should be stopped in their tracks by the federal government. We need to protect people before profit. Congress should put the brakes on this corporate gold rush in which profiteers are rushing self-driving multi-ton missiles onto our streets and highways.

Autonomous buses are simply not even remotely roadworthy today. The current state of pedestrian-detection technology for driverless vehicles in general is quite weak. People should not be used as crash dummies in the development of AV buses, whether they are on board a vehicle or in harm’s way on the street.

Moreover, this is an extremely risky time to consider taking transit workers off of our buses. We are in the midst of an unprecedented spike in crime on transit all across the country. The most effective way to reduce violence on public transit systems is to get more people back to riding them and to have staff on board. Obviously, the police have a major role to play, but it really comes down to having people, lots of eyes, on different people. This of course includes transit workers, who play an enormous role in transit safety, going way above and beyond their traditional driving duties. Bus operators, the eyes and ears of our communities, also routinely perform heroic acts that impact all of us. They alert 911 about the existence of house fires, talk suicidal people off of bridges, and routinely help young children find their way home. Taking potential heroes off the bus will result in tragedies that could have been averted.

ATU SUPPORTS:

The Safe Regulation of Autonomous Bus Driving Systems Act (Safe ROADS Act), H.R. ___, (Rep. Chuy Garcia) which places certain restrictions and preconditions on the use of highly automated vehicles for use in public transit, intercity bus service, and school bus operations. The legislation sets up a framework to ensure safe operation of automated transit, school bus, and intercity buses which shall remain in effect until the Secretary of Transportation certifies that standards are in place which provide at least an equivalent level of safety to non-highly automated vehicles.

ISSUE #4: Remove Barriers to Joining a Union

The pandemic showed us the true meaning of “heroes,” and frontline employees like transit and school bus workers deserve a federal labor framework that is built to ensure that hard working people are getting their fair share of economic growth.

Public transit employees work under difficult circumstances. Bus drivers work long shifts, refraining from drinking water because they don’t get adequate time to use the restroom. They frequently get assaulted by angry passengers who don’t want to pay increased fares for reduced service. Transit maintenance employees do their jobs under dangerous conditions, from the garages they work in, to the tools they use, to the air they breathe.

Often times when low paid transit employees attempt to improve their standard of living by joining a union, they are thwarted by cold-blooded multinational companies which do everything they can to squash workers’ dreams, and current U.S. Labor Laws enable them to do so. Private transit employers regularly violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) with no consequences. Workers are forced to attend “captive audience” meetings whose sole purpose is to convince them to vote against the union. Companies place massive pressure on workers living in poverty with their families and tell them lies about what it means to join a union.

Moreover, even when workers actually vote to join a union, the companies still contest valid elections and work ruthlessly to decertify the bargaining unit and bust the union before they get a chance to negotiate a first contract. It never ends, and it is not a fair fight. As workers stand up against corporate greed and fight for better wages, working conditions and benefits, Congress must make it easier for workers to form unions and receive a first contract.

ATU SUPPORTS:

The Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (S. 567- Sen. Sanders/

H.R. 20 - Rep. Bobby Scott), which would:

Modernize the NLRA by bringing its remedies in line with other workplace laws;
Impose appropriate financial penalties on companies that violate the code;
Establish a process for mediation and arbitration to help the parties achieve a first contract, making the freedom to negotiate a reality for countless workers who form unions but never get to enjoy the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement;
Provide a more level playing field so that an increased number of workers could join unions and have a better chance to successfully fight for their wages, benefits, and working conditions.

ISSUE #5: Increase Transit Funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 to President Biden’s Recommended Budget Level

The massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021, which reauthorized the federal transit program for five years, provided significant increases in investment to put public transit agencies on a path to modernize their systems and meet the growing and evolving demands of our communities. The bill provided $106.9 billion for public transit, an increase of $41.1 billion (63%) from previous levels. It increased each of the formula and competitive grant programs by 35-37 percent compared to previous levels and provided $15 billion of General Fund authorizations for Capital Investment Grants (CIG). The legislation also included major investments in transit workforce development to ensure that frontline workers get the training they need to keep their jobs, stay safe, and work efficiently for our nation’s transit systems.

Unfortunately, in FY 2024, the U.S. House proposed in its Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Bill to significantly cut public transit and passenger rail below the authorized funding levels of the IIJA. It would have cut public transit investment by $2.3 billion and passenger rail investment by $2 billion from the previous year’s funding levels. Thankfully, these cuts were ultimately rejected.

It is critical to honor the promise of the IIJA and fully fund public transit and passenger rail in the FY 2025 THUD Appropriations bill. President Biden’s DOT Budget requests $16.8 billion for public transportation, a $198 million increase from the FY 2024 enacted level. When combined with the advance appropriations included in the IIJA, the President requests $21.1 billion for public transit in FY 2025. The Budget request includes $2.4 billion for the CIG program.

Critically, the President proposes relief for transit agencies facing massive budget shortfalls. The budget proposes allowing §5307 Urbanized Area Formula funds to be used for operating expenses. To use this authority, grant recipients must certify to the Secretary of Transportation that the recipient will ensure a maintenance of effort comparable to the most recent fiscal year for projects funded by Urbanized Area Formula grants. In addition, the Budget proposes to allow highway funds (including unobligated balances) to be transferred to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in FY 2025 to be used for operating assistance.

ATU SUPPORTS:

President Biden’s request for $21.1 billion in THUD appropriations funding for public transit in FY 2025.
Allowing transit agencies to use their FY 2025 §5307 Formula Funds for operating assistance, providing resources necessary to plug budget holes and maintain service levels.