The Senate Appropriations Committee included $2.133 billion for Capital Investment Grants (CIG) in the FY 2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act it approved unanimously July 27.

This figure is more than the $1.753 billion in the THUD bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee but less than the FY 2017 enacted level. The Senate bill makes available an additional $14.4 million in previously unobligated funds for the CIG program.

The bill also includes directive language to ensure the continuation of the program. It not only provides funding for all existing Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA) and Small Starts projects that received a portion of their funding in FY 2017, but also explicitly provides funding for qualified projects expecting to sign FFGAs in FY 2018.

The Senate bill also includes $550 million for TIGER grants, $50 million above the FY 2017 enacted level, despite the elimination of TIGER grants from the administration’s proposed FY 2018 budget. In contrast, the House version of the bill would completely eliminate funding for the TIGER program.

Both the Senate and House appropriations bills fully fund FAST Act formula programs from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund at $9.733 billion and fully fund the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority at $150 million.

FRA would receive $1.974 billion under the bill, $122 million above the FY 2017 enacted level. This includes $1.6 billion for Amtrak for the Northeast Corridor and national network, continuing service for all current routes, along with $250.1 million for FRA safety and operations, as well as research and development activities.

The Senate legislation included $92.5 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grants program, of which $35.5 million is for initiation or restoration of passenger rail, $26 million for federal-state partnership for State of Good Repair grants and $5 million for restoration and enhancement grants.

The THUD appropriations measures must now be considered by the full House and Senate respectively, after which both chambers will need to reconcile their differences into a final FY 2018 spending bill. Final approval is predicated on Congress first reaching a bipartisan budget agreement. APTA expects work on both issues to begin when Congress returns in September.

APTA Officer Election Set: Ford, Stackrow Nominated; Barnes, Green Continue as Officers

APTA members will vote on the 2017-2018 slate of officers Oct. 7 during the APTA Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

This is the first Executive Committee to be elected since the APTA membership approved the new bylaws that provide for designated seats as well as at-large members.

Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., current APTA vice chair and chief executive officer, Jacksonville (FL) Transportation Authority, was nominated to be chair and David M. Stackrow Sr., chairman, Capital District Transportation Authority, Albany, NY, vice chair.

Chair Doran J. Barnes, executive director, Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA, will serve as immediate past chair through 2018 and Kim R. Green, executive director of business development at Genfare, will continue as secretary-treasurer through 2018.

The 2017 Nominating Committee—chaired by Valarie J. McCall, APTA immediate past chair and a member of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees—nominated the officers and members-at-large for both the APTA Executive Committee and the APTA Board of Directors at a meeting July 26.

Nominated as members-at-large to the APTA Executive Committee are:

Doug Allen, chief executive officer, Virginia Railway Express, Commuter Rail CEOs Subcommittee representative;
Brad Miller, chief executive officer, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, St. Petersburg, FL, Mid-Size Operations Committee representative;
Andrew Johnson, chief operating officer, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, Urbana, IL, Small Operations Committee representative;
David Genova, general manager and chief executive officer, Regional Transportation District, Denver, transit CEO representative from top 10 agencies;
Leanne Redden, executive director, Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago, legacy system representative;
Adelee Marie Le Grand, chief strategy officer and vice president transit planning, Regional Transit Authority, New Orleans, at large, three-year term;
Carolyn Flowers, senior vice president, AECOM, at large, one-year term;
Lester Bryant, board secretary, VIA Metropolitan Transit, San Antonio, at large transit board member, one-year term;
Andre Gibson, board vice chairman, Memphis Area Transit Authority, at-large transit board member, two-year term, finishing the term of David Stackrow when he becomes vice chair;
Baccara Sanderson Mauldin, vice chair, Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority, at-large transit board member, three-year term;
William Thomsen, president and CEO, Urban Engineers, at-large business member, three-year term; and
Jack Martinson, vice president/customer director, ALSTOM Transportation Inc., at-large business member, two-year term.

These current members will remain on the Executive Committee:

Nuria I. Fernandez, general manager, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Rail Transit CEOs Subcommittee representative;
Freddie C. Fuller II, vice president, CH2M, top 10 business member representative;
Jeffrey A. Nelson, general manager, Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District, Moline, IL, Bus and Paratransit CEOs Committee representative;
Charles R. Wochele, managing partner/owner, TransitConsult LLC, at-large business member;
Dorval Carter, president, Chicago Transit Authority, at-large member;
Greg Percy, chief operating officer, Metrolinx (GO Transit), Canadian member;
Beverly Silas, vice chair, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin, TX, at-large transit board member; and
Jeff Wharton, president, IMPulse NC LLC, BMBG representative.

CLARIFICATION: The 25th member of the Executive Committee is the Legislative Committee chair who is appointed by the APTA Chair in consultation with the Vice Chair. She is Diana Mendes, Mid-Atlantic Division president and national transit/rail market sector leader, HNTB Corporation.

Nominated to three-year terms on the APTA Board of Directors are:

Mary Jo Morandini, general manager, Beaver County Transit Authority, Rochester, PA, transit agency representative at large;
Dawn Distler, director of transit, Knoxville (TN) Area Transit, transit agency representative at large;
Sue Dreier, chief executive officer, Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area Authority Corporation, Lakewood, WA, transit agency representative at large;
Samuel Desue, chief operating officer/senior vice president, Kansas City Area (MO) Transportation Authority, transit agency representative at large;
Henry Li, general manager/CEO, Sacramento (CA) Regional Transit District, transit agency representative at large;
Jeanne Krieg, chief executive officer, Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, Antioch, CA, transit agency representative at large;
William Tsuei, director of information technology, Access Services, El Monte, CA, transit agency representative at large;
Angela Miller, director, global customer solutions, Cubic Transportation Systems, business member at large;
Michael Allegra, president, KivAllegra Consulting, Salt Lake City, business member at large; and
Stanley Feinsod, principal, Stan Feinsod-Passenger Rail Consultant, San Francisco, business member at large.

Learning and Sharing at Transit Board Members, Board Support Seminar

Participants in the 2017 APTA Transit Board Members and Board Support Seminar gathered in Chicago to learn and share ideas, hear a report on lessons learned from the recent study mission to Asia, how to build a safety culture and participated in a session led by procurement experts. Learn more in the next issue of Passenger Transport.

FTA Schedules Webinar on Bus and Bus Facilities Program

SAVE THE DATE

2017 APTA Annual Meeting & EXPO
Oct. 8-11
Atlanta
Early registration ends Aug. 11. Register today.

IN THE MEDIA

New Life for Old Mode: Streetcars, nearly wiped out in the 1930s, are making comebacks in cities across the country with measurable benefits, from rejuvenating neighborhoods to offsetting carbon emissions. Read more in this blog from NationSwell.

I’m So Excited: This New York Times op-ed suggests it’s time to “get excited” about infrastructure maintenance and let go of our “impoverished and immature conception of technology, one that fetishizes innovation as a kind of art and demeans upkeep as mere drudgery.”

Lots of Parking Lots: Although it often seems you can’t find a parking spot when you need one, a new study finds that collectively, parking lots use land equal to the size of West Virginia. This six-minute video from Vox, the Mobility Lab and Chilton Media Group summaries the high cost of free parking.