An Overview of State Mass Transit Assistance Programs: Financing and Distribution Mechanisms

PDFTech ReportPublic transitResource allocationOperating subsidiesState aidState departments of transportationWisconsinWisconsin. Dept. of TransportationNTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-Transit Economics and FinanceUS Transportation CollectionIn FY 1987, thirty states provided a total of approximately $2.5 billion instate operating assistance to public transit. The level of state operatingassistance ranges from $75,000 in the state of Montanna to $941 million in NewYork state. This paper provides a basic summary of information about statepublic transit assistance programs including the level of support, the sourcesof funding, the allocation methods and distribution requirements for stateassistance.The primary resource for the financial data included in this report was the mostrecent (August 1987) American Association of State Highway and TransportationOfficials (AASHTO) Survey of State Involvement in Public Transportation (draft).Additional data was gathered by means of a survey distributed to all states bythe Wisconsin Department of Transportation in August 1987. The survey wasintended to identify the various requirements including local match, fareboxrecovery and performance requirements each state places on state transit aidrecipients. The first section of this paper summarizes the financial data anda second section summarizes the distribution requirements