Kelly, Curtis Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Provide American Cities with Better Public Transportation Access

Today, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and John Curtis (R-UT) introduced the Promoting Access to Transit in High-Growth Communities (PATH) Act, bipartisan legislation to provide growing American cities with better access to public transportation. The bill modernizes how the federal government evaluates transit projects seeking funding through the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program.

"Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states, but federal transit funding ignores that reality. This bill changes that by making population growth a factor when federal dollars are awarded," said Kelly.

"Communities across Utah are growing faster than ever, and our transportation planning needs to reflect where people are headed-not just where they live today," said Curtis. "The PATH Act gives fast-growing regions a fairer opportunity to compete for federal transit investments by recognizing future demand alongside current conditions. Better forecasting means better infrastructure decisions, less congestion, and stronger communities."

Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), Burgess Owens (R-UT-04), and Dina Titus (D-NV-01).

"In the fast-growing cities of the West, every mile of transit and every bus route is an investment in our future-and fairness means funding them not for where we've been, but for where we're going. Senator Kelly's legislation is a common-sense approach, and a win for Arizona-and I'm grateful to him for leading this conversation in Congress," said Kate Gallego, Phoenix Mayor and Transportation Policy Committee Chair.

"Maricopa County is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, and our transit investments should reflect both the needs of today and the growth ahead," Valley Metro CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller said. "We appreciate Senators Kelly and Curtis for their bipartisan leadership on legislation that gives growing regions greater flexibility to demonstrate the future value of transit investments."

Background:

This legislation continues Senator Kelly's push to provide Americans with better access to affordable and accessible public transportation. Last year, Kelly and Curtis introduced the bipartisan Streamline Transit Projects Act to improve transit project timelines and quality by allowing transportation agencies to assume responsibility for environmental reviews.

Current federal transit funding evaluations rely heavily on existing population density and ridership, which can disadvantage rapidly growing communities where infrastructure has not yet caught up with population growth. Arizona communities rely on CIG funds to complete high-profile transit projects, including the recently completed South Central Light Rail expansion and the Northwest Light Rail extension, as well as the proposed the Stone Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project in Tucson. These changes would help both Tucson's BRT project and future light rail extension projects in the West Valley be more competitive for CIG funds.

The PATH Act allows the FTA to incorporate additional forecasting methods when evaluating a project's future ridership and overall justification. The legislation updates the evaluation criteria for projects applying for funding under the CIG program by allowing ridership forecasts to consider:

• Population growth rates, in addition to population density;
• The population measure that best reflects a project's future ridership potential;
• Current transit ridership in the project corridor; and
• Local development planning activities that demonstrate future growth.

By modernizing these forecasting methods, the PATH Act aims to ensure federal transit investments better reflect the needs of communities experiencing rapid growth and significant new development.

Click here to read the full text of the bill.