Transportation
For Public Transit, the Stimulus Is a Lifeline — But a Short One
The $900 billion Covid relief bill includes $14 billion in aid for U.S. transit agencies, with a bigger share heading to the cities that need it most. That’s not enough to plug funding gaps.
New York City’s struggling MTA is set to receive at least $4 billion from the new federal stimulus bill, or about 30% of the total available to all U.S. transit agencies.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North AmericaThe $900 billion pandemic stimulus package that the U.S. Congress passed on Monday night includes $14 billion of aid for public transit — enough to halt the sweeping service and staffing cuts that several of the nation’s largest transit agencies had said could be imminent.
But it’s not enough to close the pandemic-sized holes blown through agency budgets.