Senate hearing (117th Congress), EXAMINING MINNESOTA'S TRANSIT PRIORITIES
Summary
Transcript of S. Hrg. 117-591, "Examining Minnesota's Transit Priorities," an August 24, 2021 field hearing in Minneapolis of the Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, with Chair Tina Smith presiding. Chair Smith calls it the first field hearing of the Subcommittee in more than 7 years. Witnesses included Margaret Anderson Kelliher of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Charlie Zelle of the Metropolitan Council, Irene Fernando of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, transit rider Cassandra Belyeu Johnson and Nuria Fernandez, Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. Material for the record covers the METRO Blue Line Extension and a statement of New Flyer of America.
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[Senate Hearing 117-591]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-591
EXAMINING MINNESOTA'S TRANSIT PRIORITIES
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
BANKING,HOUSING,AND URBAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINING MINNESOTA'S NEED FOR RELIABLE, EFFICIENT, AND AFFORDABLE
TRANSIT OPTIONS
__________
AUGUST 24, 2021
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available at: https: //www.govinfo.gov/
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
51-119 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio, Chairman
JACK REED, Rhode Island PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
JON TESTER, Montana MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
TINA SMITH, Minnesota BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
JON OSSOFF, Georgia JERRY MORAN, Kansas
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
STEVE DAINES, Montana
Laura Swanson, Staff Director
Brad Grantz, Republican Staff Director
Cameron Ricker, Chief Clerk
Shelvin Simmons, IT Director
Charles J. Moffat, Hearing Clerk
Jason T. Parker, GPO Detail
______
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
TINA SMITH, Minnesota, Chair
MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota, Ranking Republican Member
JACK REED, Rhode Island RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
JON TESTER, Montana BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JERRY MORAN, Kansas
JON OSSOFF, Georgia KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia STEVE DAINES, Montana
Tim Everett, Subcommittee Staff Director
Anna McCloskey, Legislative Assistant
Jackie Bossman, Republican Subcommittee Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021
Page
Opening statement of Chair Smith................................. 1
WITNESSES
Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of
Transportation................................................. 4
Prepared statement........................................... 33
Charlie Zelle, Chair of Metropolitan Council..................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 34
Irene Fernando, Commissioner, Hennepin County Board of
Commissioners.................................................. 8
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Alison Zelms, City Administrator, City of Rochester, Minnesota... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 38
Grace Waltz, Vice President of Public Policy, Minneapolis
Regional Chamber of Commerce................................... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 40
Cassandra Belyeu Johnson, Transit Rider, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 13
Prepared statement........................................... 41
Nuria Fernandez, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 42
Responses to written questions of:
Chair Smith.............................................. 44
Additional Material Supplied for the Record
METRO Blue Line Extension........................................ 47
Advancing Equity Along the Blue Line Extension................... 49
Statement of New Flyer of America................................ 57
Statement of Rafael Ortega, Chair of the Ramsey County Regional
Rail
Authority and Ramsey County Commissioner--District 5........... 58
METRO diagram.................................................... 59
(iii)
EXAMINING MINNESOTA'S TRANSIT PRIORITIES
----------
TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community
Development,
Minneapolis, MN.
The Subcommittee met at 10:00 a.m., at the Fred T. Heywood
Office Building and Garage, 560 North Sixth Avenue, Mineapolis,
MN, Hon. Tina Smith, Chair of the Subcommittee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIR TINA SMITH
Chair Smith. Good morning. The Subcommittee on Housing,
Transportation, and Community Development will come to order.
I am delighted to convene this Subcommittee in my hometown
of Minneapolis and in the great State of Minnesota. This will
be the first field hearing of this Subcommittee in more than 7
years, and I believe it is the first time that Minnesota has
hosted a Field Committee ever of this Subcommittee, or any
Committee of the Banking Housing Committee. So I cannot imagine
a better place to have that than here in Minnesota.
And I also would like to thank the Metropolitan Council for
the gavel because it turns out this is supposed to be an
official Banking Housing Committee gavel. However, the gavel
was confiscated by TSA on the way to Minnesota, so I'm glad to
have this. Thank you so much, Chair Zelle, for use of your
gavel, and I promise to return it when--I know, you need this
gavel.
When I joined the Senate 3 years ago, I pledged to
Minnesotans that I would work for you and give you a voice in
Washington and put Washington to work for all of us. And in
that spirit, it is terrific to welcome FTA Administrator Nuria
Fernandez to this hearing to discuss the transit priorities of
our region.
Administrator Fernandez and I had an opportunity to meet
virtually at first and then in person this year before her
confirmation hearing before our Committee, and during our
meeting I was deeply impressed by her command of transit policy
issues as well as her deep operating experience.
She gets the policy, but she also understands what it's
like to do implementation at the local level, and that is why
she is such a strong nomination for the Biden administration
for this crucially important role.
I immediately asked her to join me in Minnesota for a field
hearing, and she agreed, pending her confirmation, which I'm
delighted to say has occurred. And now that she is confirmed by
the Senate, I'm just so happy that she is here with us today.
Minnesotans, like all Americans, need reliable, efficient,
affordable options for getting around. This is true whether you
live in big cities, the suburbs, whether you live in regional
centers like Rochester or Duluth or Moorhead, or whether you
live in small towns and rural places. From Dial-a-Ride services
in small towns to intercity bus service connecting rural and
urban areas to light rail, bus rapid transit and bus service,
folks rely on these modes of transportation every single day,
and transit makes life work for countless Minnesotans.
Transit options are essential for people to get to work or
school or to the doctor and to buy groceries or to fill a
prescription. Transit connects people to jobs and opportunity.
Transit is the engine that drives regional economies.
As Chair of this Subcommittee, I have three priorities when
it comes to transit, priorities I've learned from all of you
here in Minnesota.
The first is that transit needs to reach all Minnesota. It
needs to work in big cities like Minneapolis and in small towns
and rural places like the Arrowhead. This means we need to be
flexible about mode, from light rail and bus rapid transit to
fixed-route bus lines, and in some cases, Dial-a-Ride services.
Rural transit has been an area of strong bipartisan
cooperation in our Subcommittee since I became a chair of the
Subcommittee at the beginning of this year. And I'm grateful to
my Ranking Member, Senator Mike Rounds, from South Dakota, who
has been a terrific colleague.
Two months ago Senator Rounds and I partnered on a
Subcommittee hearing focused specifically on transit needs of
rural communities and in tribal regions, and with Brandon Nurmi
from the Arrowhead Transit Organization in northeastern
Minnesota, he was one of our witnesses, which I was grateful
for. Senator Rounds and I are working together right now on
investments in the Rural Transit Act to support transit systems
in small towns and rural areas.
Second, I am a strong advocate for Minnesota transit
projects and Minnesota transit needs. I push to make sure that
the bipartisan infrastructure bill includes more money for
capital investment grants, the source of Federal funding to
build out new light rail and new bus rapid transit funding in
Minnesota. The bipartisan infrastructure bill increases annual
funding for capital investment grants by $700 million, bringing
the total to $3 billion a year, and this new money will help
projects like the Orange Line Extension get off the ground.
I've also been pushing for the Public Transit Capital
Investment Relief Act to become law, which would provide relief
for grant recipients who have experienced construction delays
as a result of COVID-19, which has been a challenge, for
example, for Southwest LRT.
Third, we must see and understand the connection between
transit and equity and reflect this understanding in our
actions. Minnesotans of color are over two times more likely to
rely on transit than other Minnesotans, and because they also
live with deep inequity, inequality, transit is especially
important for connecting Black and Brown and indigenous
communities and all communities of color to home, to work, to
health care, to child care, to groceries, to parks and to
recreation. We have an opportunity and an obligation to use
transit as a tool for addressing the systemic inequities in our
society, inequities that are especially pronounced in this
State that I love so dearly.
So we started planning for this hearing several months ago,
but as it happens, the timing couldn't be better. Just 2 weeks
ago the United States Senate passed an historic bipartisan
infrastructure investment bill. This bipartisan bill which
passed the Senate with 69 votes, something that does not happen
a lot in the United States Senate, includes the largest
investment in transit programs that we have seen in a
generation. For Minnesota, this will mean at least 856 million
in funding for transit as well as urgently needed resources to
repair roads and bridges, ports and airports, and inland
waterways. And it also includes support for high-speed and
affordable broadband internet access, which is so important.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill includes important
updates to transit policies also, which I fought for, including
measures to reduce violence against bus drivers, to expand
electric transit vehicles, and to support transit-oriented
development practices.
This new funding could make a huge difference for projects
like the Metro B Line, the Metro E Line, and the Orange Line
Extension, help those projects get off the ground. And I'm very
hopeful and optimistic that the House will soon pass this key
measure and that it will be signed by the President into law.
Before I introduce our witnesses, I would like to extend
again a thank you to Ranking Member Rounds, who was unable to
be with us here but has been, as I said, a great partner in
leading this Subcommittee, and I appreciate his willingness to
let this Subcommittee hearing happen here in Minneapolis even
though he can't be with us.
I'd also like to enter into the record several statements
that I received from local stakeholders, including the
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 and New Flyer.
And I also understand that Minnesota Senator Scott Dibble
and Minnesota Representative Frank Hornstein, who have joined
us this morning, will be submitting statements for the record
also, and I'm glad they'll be joining us for lunch later today.
Without objection, so ordered.
With that, I am now very excited to introduce our
witnesses. I will introduce all of you at once and then
recognize you in turn for your opening statements.
When you're recognized, you will have 5 minutes or so for
your opening statement. I'm advised that it is fitting with the
Metro Transit rule that you can remove your mask if you're
comfortable for the speaking part of your testimony.
Your entire written statement will be made part of the
record. Please monitor your time, which will be shown on a
clock in front of you. When you are recognized, the light in
front of you will turn green. I will turn--and it will turn
yellow when you have 1 minute remaining and then turn red when
your time is up. When the first panel is finished, we will take
a very brief break while we set up for Administrator Fernandez.
Thank you.
So our first panel will include Margaret Anderson Keller--
we've only known each other for 40 years; I'm so excited--
Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who is the Commissioner of the
Minnesota Department of Transportation, a role she has held
since 2019; Charlie Zelle, who is chair of the Met Council and
who previously served as Governor Dayton's Transportation
commissioner; Irene Fernando, who is Hennepin County
Commissioner, also is chair of the Hennepin County Regional
Rail Authority; Ms. Alison Zelms, who is the city administrator
of Rochester, and in that role she leads Rochester Public
Transit; Grace Waltz, who is the vice president of public
policy at the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce; and Cassandra
Johnson, who is a regular transit rider and is a resident of
Brooklyn Park and has been riding transit in the metro area for
many years.
Thank you to all of you for agreeing to testify, and I look
forward to hearing from each of you. And the testimony can
begin with Commissioner Kelliher.
STATEMENT OF MARGARET ANDERSON KELLIHER, COMMISSIONER,
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Ms. Anderson Kelliher. Good morning, Chair Smith, and
Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you, and thank you for the
FTA administrator also being present today and all the other
honorable presenters today. It's an honor to share this with
you.
I am grateful for the opportunity to testify about mass
transit and particularly policies in Minnesota affecting rural
Minnesotans, although I will make some other comments as well.
Again, I'm Margaret Anderson Kelliher. I am the
Commissioner of Transportation for the State of Minnesota.
MnDOT's Office of Transit and Active Transportation works
with more than 40 Greater Minnesota transit systems and five
tribal governments. Our program for transit alone is $150
million.
Our mission is to provide our partners and communities with
leadership, tools, and resources that support access to high-
quality transit options. We do this to enable people to live
independently and to be engaged and connected to their
communities.
We know that transit plays an important part in helping
provide an equitable and sustainable transportation system
across the State. While Minnesota consistently ranks as a top
place to live and work, this is not true for everyone. And
these inequalities threaten our long-term competitiveness as a
State.
Our Government needs to focus on preparing for the next
generation of Minnesotans to work and to lead in a rapidly
changing world. This means we need a Government centered around
our children, their families, and that Minnesota can be the
best place for every child to grow up.
I want to talk a little bit about the benefits of transit
and the impact of the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act.
In its current form, and hopefully its final form, this
bill will represent a 63 percent increase in funding for
transportation. For the Federal formula programs that we depend
on for Greater Minnesota, we estimate up to a 30 percent
increase in funding levels within the first year. It will allow
us, with our partners, to expand transportation access, more
rapidly modernize the fleets and the facilities, and expand
transit's role in advancing transportation equity objectives
and addressing climate change. The cost-benefit ratio for
investment in transit is estimated to be, in dollars, 2.1 to $1
for rural transit and 2.6 to $1 for small urban transit, a good
return on investment. This is based on a study compiled by
NDSU's Upper Greater Plains Transit Institute in 2018.
There's also benefits to the climate. The transportation
sector, as you know, is the leading contributor to greenhouse
gas emissions today in our country. Public transportation is
critical to be able to have a strategy to reduce those
emissions. Public transportation produces significantly lower
greenhouse gas emissions per mile traveled than private
vehicles. And you will hear this Commissioner of Transportation
often say, we need our partners at the local level to be doing
more on transit. We need a better transit system.
We're beginning to see the greening of the transit fleet
with battery electric buses operated in Duluth and the Twin
Cities and across the metro, also coming soon in Rochester as
well.
Rural transit agencies will begin to see deployment of
battery electric buses soon.
The City of Morris and Arrowhead Transit in northeastern
Minnesota have been awarded clean transportation grants by the
State of Minnesota to be able to purchase electric vehicles and
support infrastructure in the next year. We're working with our
partners at the Met Council and other transit providers to
reduce the vehicle miles traveled.
Rural transit cost share is one of the biggest barriers
that local communities face, so I want to thank you for this
Rounds-Smith Act, and that it would really benefit those
communities who tell us that the biggest barrier to
implementing a better transit system is the cost share.
Impoverished communities, communities with low tax base, the
local match requirement can be a significant barrier.
Finally, I just want to speak briefly about COVID-19 and
the effect on transit.
We know that transit ridership fell incredibly across the
State, not only in the metro area, but also in local
communities. Those local communities and their transit
operators stepped up. They were able to provide local food
shelf delivery, local door-to-door food delivery for people.
They were able to give critical rides to people who needed
health care. It is so important that we were able to work with
them in a flexible way in this pandemic to be able to deliver
those services.
We prioritized with our transit providers being able to
keep transit operations working as those farebox revenues fell.
We do see that with the help of the CARES Act, as well as the
CRRSAA funds and the American Rescue Plan, that the local share
of operating budgets were really bolstered by those funds. So I
want to thank you for that, Senator Smith. That was critical to
being able to continue to deliver transit services in rural
Minnesota.
We are interested in continuing to work with tribal
governments, and we are actually working on some innovative
ideas to be able to deliver those Federal funds to tribal
governments in new ways.
Finally, we are striving to bring the digital age to
transit in rural Minnesota as well using a Mobility-as-a-
Service platform and being able to work with our partners to
deploy that.
Madam Chair, Members of the Committee, and Honored Guests,
thank you for allowing me to speak today, and I'd be happy to
answer your questions.
Chair Smith. Thank you. Chair Zelle.
STATEMENT OF CHARLIE ZELLE, CHAIR OF METROPOLITAN COUNCIL
Mr. Zelle. Thank you, Chair Smith. And on behalf of Met
Transit, welcome to our building, and I also want to welcome
Administrator Fernandez and other distinguished guests to have
this hearing here.
The Metropolitan Council is the policymaking body, planning
agency, and provider of essential services for the entire
seven-county area. We also act as the Metropolitan Planning
Organization for the region, and we plan for and operate
transit and paratransit. Metro Transit is a division of
Metropolitan Council, and it's the largest transit provider in
the State.
You know, like transit across the country, Metro Transit's
ridership was significantly affected during the pandemic. You
know, we had a deep drop in ridership, but that doesn't tell
the whole story. Even just recently, we're operating and
carrying as many as 100,000 rides on a weekday. It shows how
essential this service is to our economy and to our metro area.
I want to really thank Senator Smith and our Federal
delegation for the appropriating of Federal COVID relief
dollars which accounted for, with the three different acts, as
much as $725 million for this region.
I also want to thank the FTA for helping administer and
delivering those funds. Without it we would not be able to have
our transit on the streets, and providing 3,000 Metro Transit
jobs currently employed. So we passed out a map, and this shows
our vision. This map represents a 2030 network of light rail
and bus rapid transit. It is really a tremendous growth, which
has been planned for 4 years and is really going to be
implemented in the next, you know, 9 years. With the help of
the Federal partners, we have made significant progress.
The Senator mentioned the Orange Line, the bus rapid
transit corridor, is completing construction, and we anticipate
having a ribbon-cutting later this year. The line runs along
35W. It received $74 million in Small Starts grant in 2019.
Continuing clockwise, the Green Line Extension, or as we
know it, the Southwest Light Rail, is under construction and 50
percent complete. I could go on and on. It is the largest
infrastructure project ever in the State of Minnesota and it
will have significant impact.
Just a note, we have had, through June of this year, over
$155 million for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises and
professional services. So our commitment to equity is
throughout in every one of our lines.
The Blue Line Extension light rail project is undergoing
alignment review. We are exploring new ways to connect with the
north side of Minneapolis, near where we are now, and the
northern communities, so we are able to appropriately connect
with those communities and neighborhoods that have been for so
long marginalized and forgotten. I know my compatriot,
Commissioner Fernando, will discuss this in greater length, but
we are doing a new kind of deep engagement with the community
to ensure we get it right.
Moving to the right side of the map, the Purple Line is a
dedicated guideway BRT project. We anticipate an environmental
decision from FTA in the next 2 months, and the Council will
seek entry into the New Starts Project Development this fall.
The Gold Line project is a dedicated guideway BRT corridor
running east from St. Paul, and we are so pleased that the
President's 2022 budget recommendation included $100 million
for this project. Design work is completed, and the FTA will
conduct a review of the project's readiness for a Full Funding
Grant as early as next week. So we're eager to move toward a
Full Funding Grant Agreement in the next year and start
construction as soon as next summer.
The Riverview project is beginning environmental analysis
as a rail corridor and that will advance, connecting St. Paul
with the airport and the Mall of America.
So connecting all of these lines, and you'll see them with
the letters, is our arterial bus rapid transit. Over half of
our bus system rides are in corridors which we plan to
transition toward this enhanced bus system. We have two
operating arterial BRT lines in place, the A Line and the C
Line. The D Line is under construction, and the B and the E
Lines are fully funded and moving toward construction. So this
map is not a dream. It is real, it's funded, and it's
happening.
When our full 2040 network is constructed, LRT and BRT
services will connect 28 percent of the region's residents, 44
percent of all jobs in the region. This network will connect 46
percent of the region's BIPOC residents and 60 percent of the
region's renter households.
Transit makes a difference for helping solve the issues of
disparities we suffer from in this metro area.
So we expand on that work, we're taking intentional steps
to increase the diversity of contractors and working with both
of our partners and our own programs to foster entrepreneurship
for people of color and women. We support on-the-job training.
We are working through a Mentoring Protege program and to help
develop better BIPOC business as well.
So looking ahead with that wonderful infrastructure bill, I
have to mention that we have made significant investments in
battery electric bus infrastructure with the help of FTA's Low
and No Emissions Program grants, we've had some experience, and
we are committed to a zero emissions future. We think this will
make a difference.
So in closing, I want to take the opportunity to thank you,
Senator Smith, and our entire Federal delegation for the
partnership you've given and shown us. Without it, our success
today and, more importantly, this future, would not be
possible. Thank you so much.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Chair Zelle.
Now I'm excited to hear from Commissioner Fernando.
STATEMENT OF IRENE FERNANDO, COMMISSIONER, HENNEPIN COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Ms. Fernando. Thank you, Chair Smith, Ranking Member
Rounds, Members of the Committee, and Administrator Fernandez.
I extend my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to speak
and for all the work you do.
My name is Irene Fernando, Hennepin County Commissioner and
Chair of our Regional Railroad Authority. And as a
commissioner, I am dedicated to advancing equity by advocating
for those who are marginalized or structurally disenfranchised.
I am proud to represent District 2, which includes Golden
Valley, Medicine Lake, Minneapolis, Plymouth, and St. Anthony
Village. I am in my first term in office, I am the youngest
woman to serve on Hennepin's board, and alongside Commissioner
Angela Conley, we are the first and only commissioners of color
in Hennepin's 169-year history.
Today I'm excited to talk about a project that will make an
incredible difference locally, with potential benefits across
the country.
The Blue Line Extension, which has been in the works for
over 30 years, is a 13-mile light rail project that will
further our region's transit vision and will affordably connect
students to education, workers to jobs, patients to health
care, and families to resources.
We're deeply committed to the Blue Line Extension because
it's more than a project to advance. It's a commitment to the
residents and communities along the corridor, for ongoing
engagement and economic investment for years and decades to
come.
To visualize this need, I have two maps here and several
more in your materials. The first map to my right looks at
concentrations of People of Color & Transit Commuters. As you
can see, the proposed Blue Line Extension serves communities
who are relying on transit as well as the most racially diverse
communities in Hennepin. The second map to my left looks at
Home Value and Adult High School Degrees. This corridor shows
lower home values and lower degree attainment for adults 25
plus. We know that property valuation connects to
disinvestment, and of course we know there's a strong
relationship between education and income.
The Blue Line Extension will change the trajectory of
what's possible for so many of my neighbors today and for
generations to come. It will ignite much needed and long
overdue economic development for small businesses, while
building wealth for working families.
For example, I live in North Minneapolis, which is 16
percent of the city's population and about 70,000 residents,
and if I wanted to host you all tonight for a sit-down dinner,
I couldn't. There aren't places for people to celebrate life
milestones, nor spots for my neighborhood kids to get their
first jobs. It seems inconceivable to have this many people in
an area without restaurant choices, access to jobs, or spaces
to celebrate.
After a century of disinvestment, racial covenants, and
redlining, we have a duty to ensure that current residents,
small businesses, and cultural institutions are both engaged in
and able to benefit from the increased development in their
neighborhoods.
The communities of this corridor have suffered
disproportionally over the past year due to the pandemic, the
resulting job and housing disruptions, and historic harms that
must be repaired.
This is why Hennepin and Met Council are proud to establish
an Anti-Displacement Workgroup that centers community voices
and convenes diverse partners and stakeholders, to develop
robust anti-displacement measures that can counter the
unintended harm from large-scale infrastructure projects, with
specific goals to reduce racial disparities and to create more
equitable economic strategies.
Our teams work deliberately every day to ensure the Blue
Line Extension benefits corridor residents and minimizes
physical, economic, and cultural displacement.
Our anti-displacement goals closely align with the Biden-
Harris administration's Justice40 Initiative, which commits 40
percent of Federal climate investment to benefit disadvantaged
communities. Transit is a climate investment, and to benefit
disadvantaged communities, intentional focus on anti-
displacement is required.
We hope the Committee's goals align and look forward to the
possibility of partnering. We can achieve transformational
benefits for our communities with Federal support, and I am
confident that this work has the opportunity to be scaled to
other jurisdictions due to Hennepin's size, experiences,
assets, and shortcomings.
In partnership, we can ask questions and create replicable
frameworks to center residents who have been historically
marginalized, to meaningfully incorporate climate change, and
to address quantifiable patterns of disinvestment through
affordable housing, growing local businesses, and access to
jobs.
Thank you again for the time today, and I look forward to
hearing your questions or reactions to these ideas. And thank
you, Chair Smith.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Commissioner Fernando.
Welcome to Alison Zelms, who is the City Administrator from
the City of Rochester.
STATEMENT OF ALISON ZELMS, CITY ADMINISTRATOR, CITY OF
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA
Ms. Zelms. Thank you. Madam Chair, Members of the
Subcommittee, and those other fellow people testifying here
today, thank you for everything you've shared. I share many of
your sentiments.
I'm Alison Zelms, City Administrator for the City of
Rochester, Minnesota. And for the record, we are located just
about an hour south of the metro area. We represent
approximately 119,000 residents and typically over 3 million
visitors each year receiving world-renowned medical care at the
Mayo Clinic.
We operate 32 fixed routes and complimentary paratransit
service for persons with disabilities 365 days a year over a
28-square mile coverage area in Rochester.
Like many others, I'd like to begin by expressing gratitude
for recent congressional actions that really helped us keep
moving. Namely, the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act
have been critically important sources of emergency transit
funding for us.
Ridership on Rochester public transit regular routes fell
90 percent in the early days of the pandemic and is still 65
percent below the 2019 levels. Federal emergency funding
allowed us to keep our current bus routes running and to
implement extensive safety measures to keep our operators and
patrons safe.
Federal CARES capital funding allowed us to purchase 10
replacement buses without depleting local reserves further than
they already were. And without the CARES and American Rescue
Plan Act, we would not have been able to safely operate
essential transit for the many essential workers that we serve
and who rely on us in Rochester. In fact, our bus system
actually--on the hottest days of the year actually serves as a
cool place to be for many of our most vulnerable residents who
don't have shelter, and we've seen that this summer.
So we do appreciate the consideration as well of the
Congress and the President for U.S. Department of
Transportation 2022 budget funding that currently includes
$56.1 million for Rochester's Bus Rapid Transit project.
Rochester's bus rapid transit project is locally now known
as The Link, and it's a transformational public transportation
project currently in the design phase and has applied for FTA
Capital Investment Grants Small Starts program funds.
The Link is a critical 2.6 mile transit project that will
connect downtown Rochester, the Mayo Civic Center, Mayo Clinic
campuses, and the Rochester Olmsted County Government Center.
This corridor is one of our most heavily traveled, carrying
more than 21,800 vehicles and 13,000 transit riders every day.
It will provide service every 5 minutes during peak times
and every 10 minutes other times of day, and the travel time
will consistently be less than 15 minutes from end to end.
This project will significantly reduce congestion, connect
people to jobs, health care, education, recreation, and support
economic development in the region. Which the Honorable Chair
knows well, it pairs with the Destination Medical Center
initiative, which is the largest public-private economic
initiative in Minnesota's history.
The Link is a once-in-a-generation project and it will have
a broad impact in our community. It advances the environmental
sustainability, economic health, and social equity.
For example, the electric powered fleet will reduce our
city's environmental footprint and help the city transition
away from fossil fuels.
It will encourage investment and better land use in high-
density, affordable, mixed-use development along our transit
corridors, and it will be a signature amenity that residents
and visitors can use, providing a superior transit experience.
On social equity, it will have a long-term halo effect,
strengthening the overall Rochester Public Transit system and
providing the opportunity to improve access to transit-
dependent people.
I was also asked to speak specifically about challenges and
opportunities of a transit system outside the metro area.
Obviously the pandemic continues to have a significant
adverse impact on transit ridership. And while the principles
that shape our mobility strategy remain in place, a high degree
of uncertainty exists. When will people feel more comfortable?
When will this health crisis subside and we return to more
normal routes? And how will remote work impact our system and
our ridership?
We are confident, though, that demand will return and grow.
We anticipate the rate of growth may need to be reevaluated,
however.
So the pandemic has also sped up the rate of change and
encouraged innovation, leading to an opportunity to reconsider
and improve many aspects of transit service delivery, including
bus rapid transit.
For example, the disinfection onboard on filtration
technologies are needed to improve customer comfort long term.
Touchless mobile fare payment technology has accelerated. It's
always been important to us, but that's coming much more
quickly than we anticipated. And vehicle technology continues
to advance with battery electric vehicles and on-street
piloting of autonomous transit vehicles in Rochester.
So I'd ask the Members of this Subcommittee to support
continued Federal resources for local transit agencies to help
us in metro and in more rural communities emerge healthy and
build our infrastructure for the future.
Federal capital programs like the CARES Act and the
American Rescue Plan, as well as the ongoing transportation-
specific programs are essential to implement sustainable and
equitable mobility that solves for congestion management,
social equity, affordable housing, economic development, and
climate action.
Thank you for the opportunity and for your time.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much. Ms. Waltz.
STATEMENT OF GRACE WALTZ, VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC POLICY,
MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Ms. Waltz. Chair Smith and Administrator Fernandez, thank
you for the invitation to speak this morning about the
importance of investing in a strong transit network.
The Minneapolis Regional Chamber is the largest local
chamber in Minnesota with nearly 2,300 members in the 11-county
metro region. Over the past 10 years the Minneapolis Regional
Chamber and our partners have commissioned two studies from
national experts to assess the expected return on investment
from building out our region's transit system. These reports
have confirmed that in addition to providing more and better
ways to get around, investments in transit pay off, both for
those who use transit and those who use our roads and highways.
Building a comprehensive transit system in our metro area
will provide a major return on investment, more than 9 billion
in positive direct impacts.
Improved public transit is a key component to eliminating
access barriers to equitable employment and economic
disparities. Employers and employees have been seeking better
transit, and this report shows that it's also the smart thing
to do from a monetary perspective.
It's important to note that our most recent study found
that 81 percent of the benefits of a better transit system
would be enjoyed by people and businesses using the region's
street and highway system due to reduced traffic, thus avoiding
inconveniences like shipping delays and long daily commutes.
Beyond the clear economic benefits, public support for
improved transit access is incredibly high. A 2018 poll
commissioned by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber shows that 74
percent of all respondents said that they would support the
State of Minnesota making additional investments in transit,
including buses, trains, and light rail.
There is also strong support for making transit easier to
use. Fifty-eight percent said they would like to use public
transit such as rail or buses more often, but it is not
convenient to or available from their home or work.
Nearly two-thirds believe that transit is necessary to
compete with other metro areas for jobs. Sixty-four percent
said that Minneapolis-St. Paul needs a better regional transit
system in order to compete for jobs with peer cities, such as
Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas, and Portland that have more
complete transit systems.
These results make it clear that Minnesotans recognize that
transit is good for our economy and their day-to-day lives,
making our State stronger and more competitive.
It also must be noted that the way we think about our
transit system looks different than it did just 17 months ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote work decimated demand
for public transit in the Twin Cities and across the country.
Even while some companies have begun the process of bringing
their workers back to the office, continued uncertainty has
delayed the return for many companies, and there continue to be
some who may never bring their workers back to prepandemic
levels.
As we think about the transit system of the future, we need
to think about building systems that are more than getting
people to and from work. We need transit systems that allow
people to use transit to go to a doctor's appointment, the
grocery store, out to dinner, or to a sporting event. To put it
plainly, it is no longer enough to build a system that only
gets people from point A to point B. We need a system that gets
people from point A, to C, D, E, F, back to A again.
Federal, State, and local leaders recognize that we are at
a unique moment in time when it comes to making innovative
investments. We know that businesses prefer to locate near
transit, where employees and customers will have more travel
options. There is momentum for transit investments here in
Minnesota that strengthen our economy and make our State an
even better place for business and employees.
Investing in transit now will generate a positive impact
for our economy for decades, including additional State and
local tax revenues of nearly the same magnitude as the
investment costs.
Economic benefits aside, the recent United Nations climate
report painted a terrifying picture of what is to come if we do
not change the way we treat the planet, and transit plays a
major role in a cleaner future. Over this past summer
Minnesotans have witnessed the devastating impacts of climate
change in our own backyards, which is to say nothing of the
impacts in other parts of the country and around the world.
The Minneapolis Regional Chamber has been advocating
strongly for transit investments, and this ROI information only
strengthens our resolve and desire to make this happen. We are
hopeful that policymakers will recognize the significant
benefits that come with transit and will make smart choices in
support of investments that benefit our economy, employees, and
everyone in the region.
Thank you, Chair Smith and Committee Members, for focusing
on this very important issue. I am happy to answer any
questions.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much.
And now we turn to Ms. Johnson. Thank you for being with
us.
STATEMENT OF CASSANDRA BELYEU JOHNSON, TRANSIT RIDER, BROOKLYN
PARK, MINNESOTA
Ms. Belyeu Johnson. You're welcome. Hello. Hello, and thank
you for your time today as I talk about what public
transportation means to me and the community of Brooklyn Center
and Brooklyn Park.
My name is Cassandra Belyeu, and I am a resident of
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, on the borderline of Brooklyn Center,
where I have resided for the past 4 years. I am a passionate
advocate for transportation access. I am here today to share my
perspective with Senator Tina Smith and the panel.
Transportation is lacking in my area. I feel the need to be
addressed. My research as--as on Metro's website has revealed
that only four buses that I am aware of service the city of
Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. Anyone who misses or--one of
these buses will be forced to wait an hour for the next arrival
or walk a long distance of potentially over a mile. During the
Minnesota winter, such a long wait or walk can be an extremely
difficult challenge.
Without access to reliable transportation, simple tasks
like shopping and receiving a haircut can be--occupy signature
[sic] portion of someone's day.
While I have personal access to a car today, I didn't
always. I can still recall spending half of my day planning a
haircut due to lack of access to transportation, arriving a
full hour early just to secure my spot with my barber.
I would also rely on family members to pick me up and to
take me home afterwards if my haircut appointment was in the
evening when the buses were less available. During the weekend,
I also had to get a ride because buses were even more
unavailable than during the week.
My story is so far more only--the only one, and the time it
occupied in my day shows necessary [sic] of reliable
transportation in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center area. We
currently--where currently it is lacking. My story raises the
question of what happens to other Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn
Center residents like me who either temporarily or permanently
rely on public transportation.
I also spoke with some friends in order to hear their
perspective on what the public transportation means to them. I
have a friend who would love to move to the northwestern
suburbs, particularly Brooklyn Park, but finds it's such--more
difficult due to the lack of transportation.
My friend's story shows the public transportation is not
only a means of offering access to numerous locations and
current residents, but also a means of bringing people into the
community.
In addition to knowing people who are unsure about moving
to the area, I also know people who live in Brooklyn Park and
Brooklyn Center who have been stranded and needed me for a ride
home because they couldn't get home from the Brooklyn Center
transit. Instead, I had to pick them up where they were. No
buses ran close to their home, meaning they would have had to
walk miles if I hadn't picked them up and if it had been bad
weather.
Access to public transportation is extremely important to
children and during holidays. During Halloween and other public
activities, children often have trouble arriving because the
events are so far spread out.
I am here to say that the transportation situation right
now is not working for many people in Brooklyn Park and
Brooklyn Center area. I would also like to demand that the
buses in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center run longer hours,
including hours that go beyond the rush hours into the evening
and the weekends, specifically Sundays, where they often do not
run at all. That bus often has more--buses that have more stops
also, particularly in the underprivileged communities.
Even though I have a car, I would still like to use public
transportation from time to time. During trips to the mall, I
still use public transportation. My example that--shows that
even people with access to personal transportation can still
benefit from stronger public transportation.
My story and the stories of the countless Brooklyn Park and
Brooklyn Center residents raise questions of what access to
public transportation means for the residents and tremendously
affect in the community--in the community.
And thank you for having me and listening to my testimony
today.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much. Thank you.
So I'm going to take about 15 minutes or so to ask
questions--I'm making sure I've got the right instructions
here--and then we will just take a brief break to bring
Administrator Fernandez up here. And I'd like to start--thank
you so much for your testimony. I think you did a compelling
job of helping to understand how people's lives don't work if
there isn't that infrastructure of transportation, including
transit there. And it makes me want to come back to, first,
some of the issues that Chair Zelle and Commissioner Kelliher
raised.
What would have happened to our capacity to provide transit
during the pandemic had not our transit systems in Minnesota
gotten the infusion of support that we provided through the
CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan? What would have
happened to our ability to provide transit even though we need
to be doing more?
Just briefly, Commissioner Zelle, and--I'm sorry, Chair
Zelle, and Commissioner Kelliher.
Ms. Anderson Kelliher. Well, Senator Smith, I'll begin.
This is Commissioner Kelliher. And understandably, Chair Zelle
was commissioner of DOT under the Dayton Administration, so--
yes, we will go--we will answer to whatever.
I want to say that I think for those rural transit systems,
particularly the smallest, most vulnerable, they would have had
to shutter. They would have had to just shut down, and there
would have been no service available in those communities. And
then the restart of those services would have been very, very
difficult because we understand that this is a--this is a
necessary life service that when it shuts down, then people
start to question whether you need it again. And of course you
need it.
I think that Ms. Johnson's testimony today about what the
experience has been in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park could
be extrapolated out to the rest of the State in terms of----
Chair Smith. I think that's right.
Ms. Anderson Kelliher. ----what would happen.
Chair Smith. I think we would have heard similar stories.
And could I--I'm going to come to you in a second, Charlie.
Could you explain to us how your needs for transportation
changed during the pandemic, if they changed? Maybe they didn't
change.
Ms. Belyeu Johnson. Well, I would say during the pandemic--
actually, during the pandemic, I had to have car repairs, so
then therefore it was--and my car was down for maybe like four
days, so--and I needed to like really go somewhere and I
couldn't, so I had to have somebody take me because bus
transportation out there is very limited.
And then like I'm--so like in the evening time--you have to
get up early in the morning in order to make sure that--in
order for me to make it back to my apartment, I would have had
to have been up like early in the morning and then go out early
during the daytime while my car was down, so--but if I had to
do it in the evening, I would always have to have somebody to
come pick me up.
So it is--and then a lot of--and then when--and a couple of
the tenants that live in my building, they didn't have
transportation, so when my transportation was up, I also took
them out to get a ride also----
Chair Smith. You were helpful and kind of filling in for--
--
Ms. Belyeu Johnson. Yeah, because there's such a problem.
Chair Smith. There was, I think, a perception in some
corridors that the demand--and certainly the demand for public
transportation did go down during the pandemic with people
doing more remote working, but your stories are really
demonstrating how, for a lot of people, just the logistics of
figuring out how to get to where you need to get to didn't
really change at all. In fact, in some circumstances, I think
it was harder because of--because of the pandemic.
Chair Zelle, the testimony that we've just heard I think
really illustrates the importance of baseline bus service, and
we pay a lot of attention, as well we should, to building out
this system. It's extremely important. But could you talk
briefly about how the infrastructure package that we are
supporting is going to help address some of the problems that
Cassandra has just described where there's--and the service
that we have is just not enough of what we need?
Mr. Zelle. Well, no question. And I appreciate the
questions.
You know, during the pandemic, the COVID emergency funding
were a lifeline to keep the system operating, and really I'm
talking about the regular route bus system, because even during
a period of time when it kills a career bus person like me,
that were advertising not to take the bus, essential workers
only, and yet still 80 to 90,000 trips a day.
We're not just about getting to jobs. It's getting to
grocery stores, it's getting to medical care, getting to
school. And these were folks who have no other options. And
having a car, Ms. Johnson, you have some options, but honestly,
many don't.
And we realized how important it was to maintain service.
We actually increased service in order to maintain social
distancing.
We put in 60-foot buses on routes that normally were only
40-foot buses. So it wasn't just scaling down. We actually
scaled up in some corridors. We realized this was where the
essential bus service was so critical.
A large drop in our ridership was the express buses. These
are the folks who could telecommute, and were. And so although
express buses, and Northstar down as much as 90, 95 percent,
our regular buses were down quite a bit less. In fact, the A
Line and C Line were down the least because people really
counted on them.
So when you think about the future interconnected system,
the question about this infrastructure package, it is not about
just a point here to a point there. It is how it all fits
together, that it provides access to more than just jobs, to
living people's lives. And whether it's going to the mall, as
you pointed out, or where you actually need to get to food. I
mean, there's so many areas of the metro, even under our
currently fully running system, which are left in either food
deserts or in life deserts because we think about transit as a
way to live your life as opposed to just, you know, the morning
commute.
And really this map kind of shows how it all fits together;
that the light rail are the spines, the arterial bus rapid
transit becomes kind of the lifeline to every neighborhood.
Chair Smith. Thank you. Commissioner Fernando, in my
opening comments, I talked about how investments in public
transportation can be a tool for addressing systemic
inequities, lack of opportunity to--lack of access to
opportunity and how this is a challenge that we have here in
our community, and disproportionately large.
I'm really interested in your comments about your efforts
to present displacement as a result of the very investments
that we're making in transit that could--and how to make sure
that those investments are benefiting the community that they
go through. Could you tell us a little bit more about kind of
what are some lessons learned from this work that you're doing
and how we might apply that to other situations?
Just parenthetically, we were talking earlier about the
impact of massive infrastructure projects on communities,
especially communities of color, I think talking about the
Rondo neighborhood, and so this is something that I've spoken
with Secretary Buttigieg about as well, but I'd love to hear a
little bit more about what you're working on.
Ms. Fernando. Yeah, thank you, Chair Smith. And I also
noted that your third priority is connection between transit
inequity, and really appreciated how you stated that this
priority needs to be reflected in our actions. I certainly
think that's true programmatically and then from a policy
standpoint, so thanks for that--for including that as among
your transit priorities.
The work that we're embarking upon, Metropolitan Council
and Hennepin jointly through the Blue Line Extension project
office, is first to be able to sit back and ask the question,
what happens here when we--when we center community voices and
the feedback that they've been providing for decades?
What we're embarking upon is unfortunately not new. Large-
scale infrastructure projects produce displacement. Residential
displacement is a big factor because of property valuation. And
so there ends up being this kind of interagency question
because if transit, which is meant to bring communities
together and bring livelihood to households, actually
inadvertently produces housing instability, you know, so
therein lies a very important question about how do we sit back
and ask these questions with enough breath and enough
specificity to take it to an actionable space?
And so lessons that we've learned already and in hope--you
know, my hope is that in partnership we can learn--we can learn
lessons together and then create replicable frameworks that
impact other areas.
Lessons that we've learned already is the impact of
cultural displacement specifically. It isn't--it doesn't take
very many interviews truly in a community to realize how
decimating our redlining, the broader kind of redlining and
housing policy.
Lack of income policy. There's a lot of households that are
decreasing their income, increasing their housing cost, and
then being pushed further and further away from transit.
So the lessons that we have are to listen as deeply as
possible to the feedback we've already received. We've received
a lot of feedback--the Government has received a lot of
feedback, especially over the last year and a half, about what
works and what doesn't work. And so how can we incorporate into
the project itself actions to kind of counter that?
So investments in economic development, investments in
strengthening cultural institutions, and investments in
ensuring that people who already live in a place should be able
to enjoy the amenities that are coming through and not be
pushed out as time moves on.
And so the last thing I'll say about the replicable
frameworks part is Hennepin is the 33rd most populus county out
of 3,100 in the country, and so I believe we're a really strong
size to be able to test some innovations and to really consider
how innovations and ideas that can occur here might be able to
be more readily applied to other metros across the country, and
from that standpoint, really make a difference for some of our
most vulnerable Americans.
Chair Smith. Let me follow up on that by asking a question
about how these projects can benefit communities that have
been--you know, experience systemic inequity and what
opportunities we have, especially around contracting.
I know that this has been a priority--I suspect that this
has been a priority in all of the communities that are
represented here today, Hennepin through Metro Transit, MnDOT,
and also through the work that you are doing in Rochester.
So if I could just ask each of you to say briefly a little
bit about your work around increasing access to contracting
opportunities for communities of color; small, minority owned
businesses; women-owned businesses and what benefit that is
providing to the community.
And maybe, Ms. Zelms, I'll start with you.
Ms. Zelms. Chair Smith, thank you for that question. We've
been doing a lot of work in Rochester, especially with our
partners at Destination Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, and
elsewhere to really advance opportunities and access to
construction positions, and that's a really wide array of
positions. The construction industry isn't just building
buildings. It comes everywhere from the planning to the design
to the outfitting of a building to the street infrastructure,
water and wastewater, all of those things. And so we have a
really strong commitment. In fact, today is our 2-year
anniversary of bringing all those different industries
together, with a focus on BIPOC and other minority-opened small
businesses.
And so I see this as only, you know, the tip of the iceberg
of the opportunity as people are building the actual future of
the community. We've seen that be successful even on the very
front end of community codesign for a bus rapid transit system.
And our community aptly named our next investments in the
actual transit infrastructure to get downtown and around
downtown The Link for a reason. And I think, aptly stated, it's
a connection point. It's not just getting from point A to point
B. And people who are relying on or choose to rely on public
transit really deserve to have that rapidity and constant
comfort that they're going to be able to get their ride.
So I think that's a key component that as we're building in
these opportunities and the flexibility of our system in a more
rural part of Minnesota, we're giving people not only the
confidence that they're getting to a point where they can
actually elevate and have economic mobility based on the
systems that they provide, but they can be a huge part of
building that by having access to additional economic
opportunity through construction-centered jobs, connection
points, and being connected to people who can help elevate them
and networks that can assure that they are successful, not just
in the beginning of their new career but on into the future.
Chair Smith. Thank you. Would anyone else like to comment
on that, the question of contracting?
Ms. Anderson Kelliher. Thank you, Senator Smith, for the
question. The soon-to-be complete 35W/94 Crosstown to downtown
project, we are on track to meet many of our goals on
contracting, and that has come because MnDOT has taken a new
approach, specifically on breaking contracts into smaller
increments. And that is one of the things that we have found
successful to do is really gaining that foothold for the
minority or woman-owned contractor to be able to have success.
But I will say highway-heavy contracting is challenging
still today, and so we need help. We need the help of the
Federal Government. We need the help of others in being able to
invest more in those certificate programs, in technical
training, particularly our State college and university system,
and union apprenticeship. That is going to be key. I hear this
from each of my CEO friends of DOTs around the country. It's
one of our biggest concerns, is that the workforce of the
future needs to be more diverse and people need to be able to
share in the economic benefits and opportunity of the
construction and maintenance industry. And so that is a goal of
ours as well.
Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Zelle. And just to add on to what Commissioner Kelliher
has described and MNDOT, which I know well, which is rethinking
how 25 we develop those business enterprises by reducing the
size of the contract, but also looking at what other
assistance, everything from working capital to training, these
are huge challenges, and the workforce challenge is even more
challenging. And I know for Met Council it becomes an overall
agency philosophy; that we have to go beyond just compliance.
They can't just expect our DBE program, which is excellent--I
mentioned the Southwest number, over 100 contracts with 86
separate DBEs. But what else can we do in terms of procurement?
What can we do by partnering with other agencies and other,
frankly, nonprofit groups who are very interested in this area?
And I think it's something that the region--and I think in
the past year after George Floyd's murder, there is a
resounding interest in the private, nonprofit foundation and
nonpublic partners coming together and on the conclusion with
the Chamber, with Better MSP. I mean, at least kind of aligning
around we have an issue; how do we work together and not just
follow the programs, but--and we need resources. We may need
some of those rurals, which would create in public sector
barriers.
We can't do what Target Corporation does. We've had
contractors come and testify before Met Council saying, I'll
work for Target because they don't require bonding, but you
guys need it because you're a public sector entity.
So we have to kind of look at where are those barriers, and
we may actually need to kind of start thinking about--those
barriers need to be really looked at because are they really
providing a public purpose or are they actually standing in the
way?
Chair Smith. That would be a great thing for us to follow
up on and continue to talk about as we go forward.
Mr. Zelle. Absolutely.
Chair Smith. Yeah. Commissioner Fernando, would you like to
comment on this briefly?
Ms. Fernando. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. And so I just
want to echo that from on our construction side, we certainly
need to be much more aggressive with our contractors and
subcontractors. We need to be realistic about what living wage
means in different areas around the State and locally and also
need to position the organizations for those expectations. So
what I mean by that is if we were to think more broadly about
procurement as a whole, if for some reason we're seeing a
certain population not being represented, then we need to
interrogate that and then create programming to support all
people and communities and organizations to be able to succeed
in the way that Government works.
We've been able to see some success in this in our anti-
displacement work group. We've been breaking up contracts much
smaller than typical with our community engagement cohort and
have seen a lot of success by--instead of saying one big
contract, how are we breaking it into smaller pieces not only
to get more voices around the table, but then to learn what
types of support might be needed.
The last comment I'll make about this, because construction
on the workers' side also means at times implications for
business owners and organizations during construction. And so
we talked about with the Blue Line Extension what would it look
like to create--to apply existing Hennepin programs towards the
corridor. We run a CEO Next program. What would it look like
for a corridor to receive kind of entrepreneurial support in
alignment with a project, or what would it look like if we
invited--invited a way that--for all businesses along a
corridor before construction to have online services, and if we
support that in a way to really think more wholistically, not
just the particular point in time that the challenge is being
presented.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much. So I'm going to just ask
one last question and then we're going to move to our second
panel, which I'm also very excited about. Earlier this morning
we were talking about how--it seems to me, in the real world,
transit is not a republican or a democratic issue. People are
trying to figure out how to get around. They don't care. You
know, it's not a party thing. But sometimes in the political
world it becomes partisan.
And I'm going to just ask this question of Ms. Waltz, who's
probably wondering how could she ask me this question right
now. But the reason I want to turn to you is just for this last
question is that it is my perception amongst many, many
businesses--I bet it would be the same in Rochester, in other
communities in Hennepin County, in other communities around the
country, that they see transit as a--as part of their
competitive advantage and not as a political or partisan issue.
And I'm just wondering if you could comment on this--you
got at it some in your testimony--about how Minneapolis Chamber
members see transit not as a political issue but as a
competitive issue.
Ms. Waltz. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the
question. And I don't have the precise percentages in front of
me, but in the 2018 poll that I referenced, we did test for
kind of that exact question, and you are exactly right. People
do not think of this as a partisan view and has equal support
for both Democrats and Republicans if we want to think about it
that way.
But also, again, you're absolutely right that it is a
competitive advantage question. And in the 2019 report that we
commissioned, part of that report was evaluating the relocation
choices of over 500 companies, and 11 of those companies
specifically located to downtown Minneapolis or downtown St.
Paul in part because they had expanded transit options.
I think particularly as we're moving in--slowly inching
forward in a post-pandemic world, or at least hopefully inching
in that direction, we're seeing a big shift to employers really
listening closely to what their employees are asking for. And
we know that there's a massive demand for options,
particularly, and as everyone has noted, the workday looks
different, so that kind of traditional 9:00 to 5:00 service is
not enough for most people. And as Chair Zelle noted, we're
seeing really high ridership numbers that more resemble weekend
hours as opposed to the traditional day.
So I think if we're thinking about continuing to bring more
businesses to the Twin Cities area and around the State, a very
comprehensive system that doesn't just work for that--again,
that traditional 9:00 to 5:00 sector but can really serve
everyone's needs is highly, highly important.
Chair Smith. You're making a great point that it's not just
transit needs and for core cities are not just around
commuting. They're around all the other businesses, the
entertainment venues, for example, that are downtown. I know
this is an issue in Rochester because of my experience with the
Destination Medical Center.
And similarly, I'm sure there are businesses in Brooklyn
Park and Brooklyn Center that wish that they had better access
to--that their employees and customers had better access to
transit because that's going to be a competitive advantage for
them. And I know that this is the case in cities all over the
State, so it's made the point very well.
I want to just thank all of our panelists in our first
panel for being here today and providing such excellent
testimony.
I am going to just dismiss this panel. We will take a brief
break while the panel changes and the staff has an opportunity
to reorganize the table here, and then I will be very excited
to welcome Administrator Fernandez to testify.
Thank you so much.
[A break was taken from 11:11 a.m. until 11:17 a.m.]
Chair Smith. Welcome, Administrator Fernandez.
Nuria Fernandez is the 15th administrator of the Federal
Transit Administration. She was confirmed for this position on
June 10th of this year.
Before joining the FTA, she led the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority. She has previously held senior roles
at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the
Chicago Transit Authority, and the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority, and served as acting administrator of the
FTA during the Clinton administration.
As I said in my opening statement, when we met earlier this
year, I was so struck by the wonderful combination of operating
experience and policy know-how, and I immediately asked her to
come visit Minnesota for this opportunity that we have for our
first Subcommittee field hearing in this Committee in over 7
years.
So it is just fantastic to have you join us here for this
Subcommittee hearing. I'm very happy that you're here. And you
may start your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF NURIA FERNANDEZ, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL TRANSIT
ADMINISTRATION
Ms. Fernandez. Thank you very much, Senator Smith, and good
morning to you. And also I would like to recognize Ranking
Member Rounds, who's not with us today, and all the Members of
the Subcommittee of the Senate Banking, Housing,
Transportation, and Community Development. Thanks so much for
inviting me to appear before you today in the Twin Cities.
This is truly a pivotal time for our Nation's public
transportation systems. I want to thank you for your diligence
and that of your colleagues for all the hard work. The Senate
recently passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
This legislation includes 550 billion in new Federal investment
in America's roads, bridges, rail, water infrastructure,
resilience, internet, and more. The transit industry will
receive almost 90 billion in guaranteed funding, the most
significant Federal support for transit in our Nation's
history. That proposed funding is not just an abstract number.
It will improve people's lives throughout the Nation.
Here in Minnesota, 11 percent of trains and buses in the
State are past their useful life. So it's clear that the State
of Minnesota is going to benefit greatly from more than 818
million designated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act to improve public transportation.
I want to take a moment to also thank Chairman Sherrod
Brown of the Senate Banking Committee and Members of that
Committee for all that was done to shepherd this vital
infrastructure bill through the Senate these last few months. I
know it was not easy.
With the passage of the infrastructure bill through the
Senate, I am more optimistic than I have ever been. This level
of Federal investment will touch lives in every corner of the
country, including here in Minnesota and throughout the
Midwest. At long last, transit systems will have the resources
to expand, modernize, and offer the type of 21st century
technology solutions and services that Americans deserve and
should expect to help get them to jobs, school, and vital
services.
From right here in the Twin Cities region to smaller urban
and rural communities throughout Minnesota, we want to ensure
safe and efficient transportation for everyone.
The legislation also includes funding dedicated to zero
emission vehicles and funding to train transit workers who
maintain and operate those vehicles, advancing the
Administration's climate and job creation goals.
So as we continue to switch from fossil fuels to electric
power, we're going to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that
play such a big role in our planet's rising temperatures.
This work is more important than ever, as was mentioned
earlier by Ms. Waltz, given the recent alarming report from the
U.N. panel on climate change, which declared our last decade
the hottest in history and confirmed carbon dioxide as the
leading contributor to climate change. In fact, according to
the report, unless we sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
a lot of bad things are going to happen and the consequences
are going to be dire.
The people of Minnesota know all about this. This summer
has been drier than any since 1980, and we are grateful for
today's rain. So you have all walked outside to the haze of a
sun blotted out by the smoke of wildfires, and the evidence is
crystal clear: We have no more time to waste.
The Federal Transit Administration's Region 5
Administrator, Kelley Brookins, who leads our work in
Minnesota, is here with me today. And Kelley and her team
partner with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and 51
transit agencies throughout the State to fund public
transportation serving all 87 Minnesota counties.
As part of her work, she administers close to 394 million
in funds from the American Rescue Plan, which was signed by
President Biden earlier this year. These funds are helping
transit agencies across Minnesota to continue to operate,
despite significant losses in ridership and revenue due to
COVID. We're supporting the travel needs of workers in St.
Cloud, helping college students in Mankato get to class,
enabling members of the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians to
get to doctor's appointments, and so much more.
Here in the Twin Cities, the Met Council has made a
commitment to expand transit, and six new high-capacity lines
are on the way, which will truly transform communities in the
region by closing gaps in service and offering mobility options
to more people in those communities. Through our Capital
Investment Grants Program, FTA has helped support the amazing
successes seen by the bus rapid transit program here in the
Twin Cities, and Met Council is creating a BRT system that can
help--can be held up as a standard to other cities.
These opportunities truly open up for everyone who calls
the Twin Cities and the suburbs home. Equity is a critical
issue to FTA and to the Biden-Harris administration, and that
is why I am so proud to be working in transit. As I've often
said, transit is the greatest equalizer. It opens doors and you
step onboard and everyone has the same opportunity to go to
where they need to go and get to places they want to get to.
So with that, I think I've run out of time, and I would
like to thank----
Chair Smith. You can take as much time as you need,
Administrator Fernandez.
Ms. Fernandez. I want to be mindful of the clock.
But I just wanted to say that transit wouldn't just be
changing lives here in the Twin Cities. To the southeast, we
look forward to seeing the City of Rochester launch its first
bus rapid transit line. And we are also proud of the great work
by Charlie Zelle at the helm of Met Council and Wes Kooistra
for their vision and leadership in setting Minnesota and the
Minneapolis cities area on the right path.
So with that, I would like to thank the Subcommittee once
again for this opportunity, and I'm happy to take your
questions.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much.
I have to--I have to tell everyone that, you know, in the
United States Senate, everything tends to work by seniority,
and typically at a Committee hearing, I ask my questions
towards the end of the Committee hearing as a result, so it's
really quite delightful to be up here and able to ask the
questions first, middle, and last also.
Administrator Fernandez, I have often been struck by
something that a Minnesotan said to me at the beginning of the
pandemic, where he said: With COVID, we're all in the same
storm, but we're not all in the same boat. And it really drew
out for me how everybody has been impacted by this pandemic but
not everybody is impacted in the same way.
There has been, I think, a focus on kind of what has
happened with ridership during the pandemic, but maybe not
enough focus on how essential transit has been to so many
people during the pandemic. And I'm wondering if you could
comment a little bit more on that and draw in the impact on
transit systems around the country, and in Minnesota, the
impact of the Rescue Plan dollars and CARES Act dollars, and
then where we go from here.
Ms. Fernandez. Yes, and that's such an important question
because we're still in the midst of the pandemic. The pandemic
has not only affected people's lives, it's also disrupted our
economy and it has disrupted public transportation.
But one of the things that I have been saying time and time
again is that as the country came to a standstill, public
transportation continued moving. Why? Because the pandemic has
taught us that not everyone has an office job or could work
from home. And people who are providing essential services,
whether it was emergency response, in health care, or stocking
grocery stores or getting goods to their destination, have to
get to their place of work, and the majority of them were
relying on public transportation.
Public transportation agencies across the country didn't
know where they lived, so they have to continue providing
service. So clearly, the relief fund starting with the CARES
Act followed by CRRSAA and then the American Rescue Plan was a
lifeline to ensuring that public transportation services could
continue. But it also highlighted, to your point, that COVID
affected people differently. And as we heard today from Ms.
Johnson speaking about her community, when you think about the
availability of services, it also highlighted areas that we
label transit deserts, where there is a need to start thinking
about how we can connect and close gaps. So there is an
opportunity and a lesson that we should really heed to and
implement as we are rolling out our strategies.
Chair Smith. As we think about the opportunities for new
investment that the bipartisan infrastructure package provides,
I can't help but remember that in 1999, I worked with
Representative Hornstein at the Metropolitan Council as we were
starting to envision a transit network--a true transit network
in the metro area. That was a long time ago. It takes a long
time to build out these projects, and sometimes I think one of
the big challenges many often--big challenges is shortage of
funds and the lack of a really--you know, the need that we have
for a strong Federal partner.
So could you address how the infrastructure package that I
trust the President will be signing into law before too much
longer, how that will help us to address this sort of transit
system network that we are intent on building here in the metro
area?
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act is going to be transformative in a significant way because,
for the first time public transportation is going to get more
funding and be able to not only focus on fixing the investment
and ensuring that there's a state of good repair, but also
planning for those very same parts of our network that need to
be closed, the opportunities for expanding that network. So
those additional dollars are going to open up an opportunity
for transit agencies to plan--not just react, but to plan so
that they can, in fact, at the end of the day, 5, 10 years from
now, look back at many of those projects and programs that were
viewed as a dream and have now become a reality.
Chair Smith. As Lieutenant Governor and now as Senator, I
have heard the--heard about how important it is to build these
transportation systems, not only in the metro area, but in
rural small towns in Minnesota. You and I have spoken about
this. The infrastructure package includes support for building
out rural networks and also supporting tribal transportation
options.
Could you just talk about this a bit more? I think a lot of
times people just don't link--don't think about the necessity
of public transportation outside of big cities and suburbs.
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. And, you know, that's a very important
point because rural communities just don't have the same
options as you would find in urban and in some suburban areas,
so it's very limited. It's either you drive your car, get your
neighbor to get you to where you need to go, or rely on rural
transportation services.
And it's important also because people are aging in place,
and we have a large senior population that lives in rural
communities. We also have individuals that are disabled and
need access to medical services and access to grocery stores
and to just be connected with family and friends. So that is
why it's so critical.
And in our tribal regions and tribal nations it's much more
highlighted because you have the opportunity, through these
transportation services, to be able to go out of your community
and have access to jobs, education, and other possibilities
that would not have been possible in your own community.
So clearly when we think about transportation, it's a full
approach to how everything comes together and moves. It's not
just looking at a city or a county or a locality. It's how the
entire network ties together for the betterment of the State.
Chair Smith. And, similarly, often when people talk about
transit, it's almost as if there's like the roads and bridges
system over here and then the public transportation system over
there and never the twain shall meet. And I'm wondering if you
could talk a bit about how you at the FTA think about making
that connection so that the entire transportation system is
working together.
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. Transportation, in fact, is a network,
and it is our responsibility--my responsibility at the Federal
Transit Administration, working together with my colleagues at
USDOT, is to ensure that we can connect the network so that the
possibilities are just limitless. Working with the Federal
Highway Administration on complete streets, working with the
Federal Railroad Administration on closing gaps between where
public transportation is and where commuter rail is, I think
that is what starts to speak to an investment that, even within
transit, closing gaps and building a network of rail and buses
that feed into that rail and that go into neighborhoods and
communities that are not served by either, but coming together,
in the end is a richer product because it provides so many
options. And when you have options, then the opportunity to
grow and to better your own personal situation is expanded.
Chair Smith. Right, right. I was really quite interested in
the testimony from Commissioner Fernando about the work that
Hennepin County is doing as we contemplate the Blue Line
around--focusing on anti-displacement and creating strategies
for making sure that projects that are, you know, going through
communities are actually contributing to communities and not
just dividing them.
Could you talk a little bit about how the FTA is
prioritizing anti-displacement efforts and how we in Congress
can support--can support this work?
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. One of the things that the Biden
administration has made very clear from the very beginning is
the emphasis on equity and ensuring that the investment in
Federal dollars benefits all. And as we look at projects like
working on the Blue Line and focusing on what are some of these
things that are going to be necessary to minimize displacement
to ensure that businesses are not impacted and that people's
lives are not disrupted is where we would sit down with the
project sponsor, and in this case, with Met Council and others,
to talk about the type of strategies that need to be developed.
This is not something that is unique to this community and this
project. It's been experienced by many projects around the
country. So there are some lessons and best practices that can
be brought to bear.
But working from the U.S. Department of Transportation
perspective together with the President on Justice40, it's
significant because as we invest in communities through these
mega projects, we want to make sure that as Justice40 is
defined, that the benefit also comes to the communities that
have been underserved and overburdened.
Chair Smith. The history in our country of major
infrastructure projects having the impact of dividing
communities, especially communities of color, Black and Brown
communities, poor communities, is so clear, and we see it every
day as we drive between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and we see,
you know, the old Rondo neighborhood, which was, you know,
sliced through by the I-94 freeway. And this is not a transit
issue so much, but it is an issue that I've spoken with
Secretary Buttigieg about, and I'm grateful to see the emphasis
that the Biden administration is putting on this as we go
forward, figuring out ways of not doing that again and then, of
course, repairing the damage that has been done by those
communities that were ripped apart.
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. And if I may just say something to that
point. It is really distressing that these things happened
decades ago, but we have an opportunity today to fix it. And
with the funding that will become available through the
infrastructure bill, there is such an opportunity, working with
colleagues at the Federal Highway Administration, to not only
identify but also work with those States to find solutions to
remove those infrastructures that have separated.
Transportation is supposed to connect. That is what it's
supposed to do. It's a tie that binds. And when it starts to
divide and disadvantage segments of our communities, then
that's just not the right transportation policy and certainly
not the right plan.
Chair Smith. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And, in fact,
I've taken the opportunity to lobby Secretary Buttigieg about
this in the elevator of the apartment building that we both
live in.
We also heard from our first panel about the necessity of
finding ways for the FTA and local transit authorities to do
business with diverse contractors and subcontractors. And as
Commissioner Kelliher said, this is often challenging for these
big projects that are heavily capital-intensive projects, and
it's also really important that these diversity and inclusion
efforts around contracting are truly benefiting diverse
businesses and not creating kind of the illusion of benefit.
Could you talk a bit about what you have learned about this
challenge, the opportunities they are--in your role at the FTA
as well as your role as a former--you know, in the operating
side, and what advice you would give to Congress for how we
could make sure that the rules that we have in place are, as
Chair Zelle said, really necessary, and not unnecessary
barriers to creating opportunities for Black and Brown
businesses?
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. As we look at the billions of dollars
that are going to become available for investment in
transportation, those dollars equate to contracts and projects
in communities that should be benefiting the people in those
communities, the businesses in those communities.
We're very fortunate at the U.S. Department of
Transportation that we've just hired Shelby Scales. She is the
director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business
Utilization that's going to help us and all of the modes of
transportation to refocus on our disadvantaged business
programs. What I heard this morning was there's a need for
assistance with certification. Not every community has the
resources and the capacity to do certification and bring more
small businesses. We need more forums where large companies and
large businesses are in the same room so that the small
contractors will have an opportunity to get to know and develop
relationships with the small businesses as well so they can be
part of the progress.
But all of the other things that were mentioned this
morning are true. And that is a lot of the small businesses
have great ideas and they have experience, but they also need
back office support with Administration and performance bonds
and other things that become a burden and, in some cases,
discourages them from moving forward with these opportunities
that they should be part of.
Chair Smith. Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you a question. I
appreciate--I appreciate your answer to that, and I think that
this is something that we have to really continue to focus on.
I have to also say, it's not only an issue in transit
projects but in other large Federal projects. I'm thinking
particularly on the Banking Housing Committee, I ask this
question all the time when it comes to creating opportunities
for folks that are living in public housing projects and how
can they have some opportunity to benefit from the employment
opportunities that are generated from those--you know, from
those places where they live that are in their community.
Let me ask you a question about buses, a matter that is
very important here in Minnesota, and this is a question around
the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act. In the last
few years, Chinese bus manufacturers have been opening
facilities in the United States and are seeking to, I believe,
undercut U.S. bus producers. We certainly need a competitive
market for buses, but the concern is that these Chinese firms
are often benefiting from Government backing from their
country, and they end up having an unfair competitive
advantage. And because of the way--you know, we have to be so
careful of the way we--we're getting opportunities. This is, of
course, an important issue in Minnesota because we have an
excellent bus manufacturer in Minnesota that does manufacturing
electric buses.
So 2 years ago I worked with a bipartisan group of senators
to enact the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act to
prevent Chinese bus companies from unfairly taking advantage in
the U.S. transit bus market.
Could you talk a little bit about what steps the FTA will
be taking to implement this law and what do you think we need
to be doing to make sure that we are creating opportunities for
American-made buses, especially electric buses, as we move
forward?
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. And, Senator, thank you. I am aware
that you have championed that act. And I just want to say that
the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of
Transportation is committed to implementing the law, to
protecting our national security, and also to ensure and
preserve our domestic manufacturing. So having said that, when
Congress provided the National Defense Authorization Act
prohibition for Federal funding in procurements that involve
companies that have ties to countries that the U.S. trade
representative identified, in this case, China, we have
complied with that.
And one of the things that I have done since coming back to
the Federal Transit Administration is I had the opportunity to
meet separately with the bus manufacturers, the domestic bus
manufacturers, to talk about their plans for scaling up, given
the major emphasis on the transition from fossil fuel to
electric or low-no emissions and to make sure--because we're
talking about tens of thousands of buses over the next 9 years.
In 2030 we want it cut by 50 percent, and then by 2050 to have
a net-zero. And public transit is in the best position to make
that possible on the public transportation side because we
still have a large amount of vehicles that are diesel powered.
Chair Smith. Right, right. I was really struck, as I
suspect that you were as well, from the testimony from our
first panel and how every single person that I think I can
remember raised the power of transit as a tool for not only
fighting the battle for more equity but also fighting the
battle for addressing climate change. And the President and
Vice President have made it clear that they want to see us
reach a goal of 80 percent clean in the power sector by 2030.
I'm working very hard on that in another sphere. But the power
of transit to address our climate change needs is just so
evident, with transportation being the largest emitter of
carbon.
I believe that when it comes to climate change, and climate
change is happening, it's caused by human activity, and we need
to take bold action to address it, and if we do so, we can lead
on this issue rather than following. And there's great power in
leading because it means that we have more innovation, more
competitive advantage. All good things flow from that.
Could you talk just a bit more about how you see this from
the perspective of leading the FTA and what you'd like to see
as we think about the impacts of climate?
Ms. Fernandez. Thank you. You know, as we were dealing with
climate change that's affecting also communities--I mean, think
about the flood, the lack of resiliency in the infrastructure,
the lack of resiliency in the placement of the bus and
maintenance facilities. They're always looking for land that is
available. We also have to realize that it's very difficult to
build new transit. Everyone wants transportation, but they
don't want transportation in their backyard. They don't want to
see that construction happening.
So when you start looking at the areas where you can put in
these critical systems, they're always in low-lying areas or
areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters. And that's why
I see our role today as it relates to climate is to reinforce
and harden our public transportation infrastructure and to
provide the funding so that those facilities that are low-lying
areas can be relocated and the investment protected. I think it
is just critical, that we need to start there if we want to see
our system continue to thrive.
Chair Smith. How do you think about this question of
transit as we emerge, God willing, from--ultimately as we
emerge from the COVID pandemic? And I'm asking you to link up
what has happened with ridership on transit and what we need to
do to be moving towards, you know, increasing ridership again.
And I think you have a good perspective on this. We talked a
little bit about this earlier.
Ms. Fernandez. Yes. It's unfortunate what has happened to
public transportation. The ridership fell dramatically last
spring. We saw systems that lost almost 90 percent of thier
riders overnight.
Now, the positive thing is that there's an uptick in
ridership. And as communities are opening up, as schools are
starting back, ridership now is becoming more of a focus on
making sure that people feel safe on public transportation. And
every single transit agency is taking the necessary steps to
ensure just that: To provide a safe environment both from a
cleaning perspective and sanitizing, to also for protecting the
security of their riders.
But what is going to be necessary is for us to move quickly
because what we're seeing is that people have become so
dependent on their automobiles during the pandemic that as the
economy opens and the congestion starts back up, people are
going to try to figure out how do I keep driving through this
congestion?
And one point I just want to make is that public
transportation helps all. When people ride public
transportation, others can get to where they want to go in
their cars goods can get to market through trucking. I mean, so
it's this wholistic approach to transportation in general that
is going to keep our cities, our communities moving.
The Federal Transit Administration is hosting a series of
transit renewal webinars where we're bringing together transit
agency CEOs, we're bringing law enforcement, we're bringing
labor union and stakeholders, to talk about what steps are
necessary for us to welcome back all of our riders and then
pull together some best practices and lessons that other
transit agencies across the country can use as they're putting
together their welcome-back toolkits. There are a lot of great
things that are happening today, and we want to make sure
everyone has access to it.
Chair Smith. That's fantastic. For my last question, I know
that President Biden and Vice President Harris feel very
strongly about issues around Buy American, as do I. I think
it's critical that we keep a strong U.S. iron and steel
industry and that when taxpayer dollars are used for transit
projects, that those dollars are going to create American jobs
and supporting American industry.
So could you talk to us a little bit about what about your
agency is doing to strengthen Buy America rules to make sure
that that's happening, and can you also maybe touch on how the
bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Senate just passed will
strengthen Buy American rules?
Ms. Fernandez. This is also very important, of course,
because when there's an influx of that large amount of money
and there's such an imperative to put the money to work and
create jobs and opportunities for many, there may be those
tendencies to hurry up and get things done, and one of the
things that we will continue to monitor and enforce is the Buy
American rules.
As you may know, Senator, the Federal Transit
Administration has very clear rules around its procurement of
rolling stock and the percentage of domestic products that need
to be part of that rolling stock. That will continue.
One of the things that I have been doing is working with my
colleagues not only at the U.S. Department of Transportation,
but also with Energy and Commerce to talk about what is
manufacturing? What does the supply chain look like? What needs
to happen so that we can, in fact, create these transitions
that we have committed to the American people through not only
the executive orders that President Biden has issued around
workforce, but also in the delivery of those services. And the
infrastructure bill gives us a tremendous opportunity to get
there.
And one of the things I want to highlight as part of Buy
America is using that American labor force. The Federal Transit
Administration has awarded a contract to the International
Transportation Learning Center for their Transportation
Workforce Center to hire, train, and retain the union labor as
we are transitioning to a different type of climate-friendly
energy in our buses and our trains. And what that does is once
we get the labor force trained and fully equipped and reskilled
and upskilled, we can also take that opportunity to build a
labor force that is building things in America for America.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much. I'm going to wrap this up.
I first want to just turn to you, Administrator Fernandez, and
ask if you have any parting comments or anything else that
you'd like to--you'd like to share.
Ms. Fernandez. I want to take this opportunity to say thank
you so much, Chair Smith, for inviting me to be here. It's my
first field hearing since I've been confirmed.
Chair Smith. Mine too.
Ms. Fernandez. And I am just really excited about all the
great things that are happening, not only in the Twin Cities
area but throughout the State of Minnesota.
I want to thank Commissioner Kelliher, the Met Council
Chair and all the other witnesses for sharing their strategies
and their plans.
I am familiar with half a dozen projects that already
landed at the FTA in some form along our pipeline for funding,
and so I know that there is going to be a lot of mobility
connections happening and that Minnesota is really at the
forefront right now in setting the stage.
And I want to work with you. I want to work with you and
your colleagues as we think about how we solve the problems
that were brought up by Ms. Johnson and others. And how do we
make sure that this great wealth of opportunities and contracts
and results through services are enjoyed by all.
Chair Smith. Thank you. Thank you so much. I am so grateful
for your coming to Minnesota and to the Twin Cities to hear
about how we think about transit, how central transit is to the
work that we're doing.
I think we heard today certainly that--how important it is
that transit reaches all Minnesotans, whether you live in big
cities, suburbs, small communities, and rural places, and how
important it is that we see transit as a tool for addressing
the deep inequities in our community and also as a tool for
addressing our need to take strong action on climate. It is
powerful in that regard also.
I appreciated the comments from all of my Minnesota
colleagues about the really important transit projects that we
have in the pipeline, and I'm grateful for the support that FTA
has been providing and look forward to that continued support
as we work hard to build out a transportation network that
links up bus rapid transit and rail and buses with biking and
walking and roads and cars and the people at the center of our
strategy and not cement.
So this has been a great hearing.
I'm so grateful. I want to just close with a few concluding
statements for the record.
I want to first thank all of our witnesses for being with
us today and for providing your testimony.
For senators who are not here but will have opportunity to
know what happened at this Committee, I want to make sure that
they understand that they can submit questions for the record
and that these questions are due to us 14 days from today, on
September 7th.
For all of our witnesses, if you have questions that are
submitted to you, you will have 45 days to respond to any
questions for the record, and that time will start as soon as
the question submission period has closed.
So thank you again.
I also just want to take a moment to thank the Committee
staff and my personal staff that worked hard to make this all
work, including Cameron Ricker, who came from Washington, DC,
from the Committee.
My gratitude goes out to also Senator Sherrod Brown, who
has been such a terrific partner on all issues related to
transit.
And to Tim Everett and Emma Kloskey and Jake Schweitzer,
who are here in the room, and my State director, Sara
Silvernail, who was also here, and to Mark Kimball as well. It
takes a whole village to put together something like this.
Many thanks to the Metropolitan Council and Metro Transit
for hosting us.
And with that, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[Prepared statements, responses to written questions, and
additional material supplied for the record follow:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARGARET ANDERSON KELLIHER
Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Transportation
August 24, 2021
Chair Smith, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify regarding mass transit systems, projects and
policy in Minnesota.
My name is Margaret Anderson Kelliher and I am honored to serve as
Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
MnDOT Office of Transit and Active Transportation (OTAT) works with
more than 40 greater Minnesota transit systems and 5 tribal
governments. Our program has an annual budget of approximately $150M.
Our mission is to provide our partners and communities with
leadership, tools and resources that support access to high-quality
transit options. We do this to enable people to live independently, and
to be engaged and connected to their communities.
We know that transit plays an important role in helping provide an
equitable and sustainable transportation system.
While Minnesota consistently ranks as a top State to live and work,
this is not true for everyone, and these inequities threaten our long-
term competitiveness as a State.
Our Government needs to focus on preparing the next generation of
Minnesotans to work and lead in a rapidly changing world. This means we
need a Government centered around our children and their families, so
that Minnesota is the best place for each and every child to grow up.
Transit Impacts and Benefits
Impact of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act--In its
current form, this bill represents a 63 percent increase in
funding for public transportation. For the Federal formula
programs that we depend on in Greater Minnesota, we estimate up
to a 30 percent increase in funding levels within the first
year. It will allow us to expand transportation access, more
rapidly modernize our fleets and facilities, and expand
transit's role in advancing transportation equity objectives
and addressing climate change.
Economic impact of transit--The benefit to cost ratio for
investment in transit is estimated to be $2.21 to $1 for rural
transit and $2.86 to $1 for small urban transit (pop. 50,000-
200,000) This is based on a study completed by NDSU's Upper
Great Plains Transportation Institute (2018).
Climate benefits of transit--The transportation sector is
now the leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Public
transportation is a key element in our strategy to reduce
emission. Public transportation produces significantly lower
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than private
vehicles. We are beginning to see the greening of the transit
fleet with battery electric buses in operations in Duluth and
the Twin Cities metro area and coming soon to Rochester. Rural
transit agencies will begin to see deployment of battery
electric buses. The City of Morris and Arrowhead Transit in
northeastern Minnesota have been awarded Clean Transportation
grants to purchase the electric buses and supporting
infrastructure in the next year.
We're working with our partners at the Met Council and other
transit providers to reduce vehicle miles traveled by offering
transit options people want.
This effort supports the work of the Sustainable Transportation
Advisory Committee, which was formed to reduce carbon pollution
from the transportation sector.
Rural transit cost share (the Rounds-Smith Investments in
Rural Transit Act)--The Rounds-Smith Act would benefit
impoverished rural communities. In rural areas, transit can be
a lifeline for carless households or people that cannot drive,
connecting individuals to jobs, health care, education,
essentially to their communities. In impoverished rural areas,
local match requirements can be a significant barrier to
meeting needs. The Rounds-Smith Act would go a long way toward
removing that barrier.
Current Program Updates
Responding to COVID: At the height of the pandemic, transit
ridership fell significantly. Transit systems throughout the
State turned their attention to assisting their communities in
other ways. This included providing food delivery service in
support of local food shelves while maintaining essential
service for trips to and from doctor appointments.
As vaccination levels increase and the economy reopens, transit
systems are seeing ridership levels rebound but not yet to Pre-
COVID levels. MnDOT and its transit partners understand that
this will not happen quickly. We are committed to maintaining
access to jobs, education, health care, and shopping, while
collectively working to regain the confidence of the public.
Transit is and will continue to be a safe and healthy
transportation option.
During COVID, MnDOT prioritized maintaining transit
operations throughout the State. Farebox revenues fell to near
zero and local governments were challenged to meet their local
share requirements. MnDOT used Federal Emergency Relief funds
(CARES Act, CRRSAA, American Rescue Plan Act) to cover local
share of operating budgets (typically 15 percent or 20 percent)
in 2020 and 2021. After consultation with local partners, MnDOT
has agreed to extend coverage of local share through Calendar
Year 2022. We are committed to maintaining access to jobs,
education, health care, and shopping, while collectively
working to regain the confidence of the public.
MnDOT is also interested in using Federal funds to
provide additional support to Tribal transit agencies, perhaps
through the creation of a transit vehicle replacement program.
This is a conversation we will be having with Tribal
authorities in the near future.
MnDOT is striving to bring rural transit into the digital
age. The Office of Transit and Active Transportation received
an FTA innovation grant to build a regional Mobility-as-a-
Service platform with seven public transit agencies in and
around Rochester and Mankato. The open source trip planning,
booking, and tracking platform will test the impact on travel
choices while developing new data standards for the transit
industry.
Madam Chair and Members, thank you for the opportunity to speak
with you today.
I would be happy to answer any questions.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHARLIE ZELLE
Chair of Metropolitan Council
August 24, 2021
Chair Smith, Good morning. I'm Charlie Zelle, the Chair of the
Metropolitan Council. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.
I want to welcome you, FTA Administrator Fernandez, and other
distinguished guests to Metro Transit.
The Metropolitan Council is the policymaking body, planning agency,
and provider of essential services for the seven-county Twin Cities
region. The Metropolitan Council is the Metropolitan Planning
Organization for our region, and we plan for and operate transit and
paratransit. Metro Transit is a division of the Metropolitan Council
and is the largest public transit provider in Minnesota.
Transit is essential to our region. Investing in transit builds
community prosperity, improves our quality of life, connects people to
opportunity, and plays a critical role in advancing equity and
addressing climate change. Embedded in our practices is the belief that
inclusive contracting creates opportunity by growing small businesses
and jobs.
Like transit agencies across the country, Metro Transit's ridership
is significantly down due to the pandemic. But the drop in ridership
doesn't tell the full story. Even now, Metro Transit provides nearly
100,000 rides each weekday. The pandemic highlighted how indispensable
transit service is to essential workers and to others who rely on
transit to meet their daily needs.
I want to thank Senator Smith and our Federal delegation for
appropriating Federal COVID relief funding for transit through the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Coronavirus
Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and the American
Rescue Plan Act. And thank you to the Federal Transit Administration
for their tremendous work in distributing these funds.
In total, our region has received over $725 million to support
transit operations during the pandemic. These funds are keeping
essential transit services on the street and over 3,000 Metro Transit
workers employed.
We believe successfully emerging from the pandemic requires us to
continue investing in our region's transit network. Our experience
shows that investing in fast, frequent, reliable, and safe service
increases ridership and strengthens the role transit plays in our
communities.
The map on the screen illustrates this vision. This map represents
our planned 2030 network of light rail and bus rapid transit lines.
With the help of our Federal partners, we are making significant
progress on each of these corridors. I'll provide a quick update on
them.
Beginning with the Orange Line bus rapid transit corridor, we are
completing construction, and we anticipate opening for service later
this year. This line runs along I-35W. The project received a $74
million Small Starts grant in 2019 and an additional $11 million ARPA
grant in June.
Continuing clockwise, the Green Line Extension, or Southwest LRT is
under construction. This is the largest infrastructure project in State
history, and work continues throughout the corridor. Just through June
2021, our Southwest contracting efforts have resulted in spend to
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) of $155,277,877 in
construction services and professional services with 100 DBE contracts
and 86 unique DBEs.
The Blue Line Extension light rail project is undergoing an
alignment review. We are exploring new ways to better connect the north
side of Minneapolis and northern communities to the line and are
conducting an extensive public engagement process on a modified
alignment. When completed, the Blue Line extension will serve
chronically underserved communities and help ensure the benefits of
transit are available to neighborhoods that have been passed by for too
long.
Moving to the right side of the map, the Purple Line dedicated
guideway BRT project anticipates an environmental decision from FTA in
the next 2 months, and the Council will seek entry to New Starts
Project Development this fall.
The Gold Line project is a dedicated guideway BRT corridor running
east from Saint Paul. We are so pleased the President's 2022 budget
recommendation included $100 million for this project. Design work is
completed, and the FTA will conduct a review of the project's readiness
for a Full Funding Grant next week. We're eager to move toward the Full
Funding Grant Agreement in the next year and start construction next
summer.
The Riverview project is beginning environmental analysis as a rail
corridor that will advance in the future, connecting downtown Saint
Paul with the airport and Mall of America.
Connecting all these lines are our arterial bus rapid transit
corridors represented in letters. These have been successful upgrades
to local bus services that have seen significant ridership growth. Half
of our bus system rides are on corridors planned for arterial BRT. We
have two operating arterial BRT lines, A Line and C Line. The D Line is
under construction and the B and E Lines are fully funded and moving
toward construction.
When our full 2040 network is constructed, LRT and BRT services
will connect 28 percent of the region's residents and 44 percent of all
jobs in the region. This network will serve 46 percent of the region's
BIPOC residents and 60 percent of the region's renter households.
This kind of access to opportunity with high quality and affordable
transit service is a central focus of our plan to reduce regional
racial disparities. We understand the benefits these transformational
investments provide. We're also fully aware it takes a concentrated
effort with our local, regional, statewide, and Federal partners to
keep our residents and businesses thriving during project development
and construction. The Council is committed to producing tangible
results in the area of anti-displacement and seeking opportunities to
heal our communities from past injustices. The Council and Hennepin
County are partnering with community members and agency stakeholders to
convene a diverse Anti-Displacement Working Group to bring attention to
these very issues as part of our Blue Line LRT Extension work. The
Anti-Displacement Working Group will develop implementable
recommendations to prevent multiple forms of displacement and promote
equitable development, during the construction phase of the project and
beyond.
As we expand our network, we are taking intentional steps to
increase the diversity of contractors building our transit projects.
This includes depositing funds with financial institutions committed to
fostering entrepreneurship for people of color and women business
owners, supporting on-the-job training that exposes more people to
careers in construction, and connecting firms through our Mentoring
Protege program, which increases opportunities for subcontracting and
prime awards.
Looking ahead, we are watching the infrastructure bill that passed
the Senate. If the bill becomes law, it will be a historic investment
in transportation for our region and for the Nation. For one example,
the bill's focus on transitioning to zero emissions transit fleets
aligns with our commitment to expand our electric bus program. Metro
Transit has made significant investments in battery electric buses and
infrastructure, in large part thanks to the FTA's Low or No Emissions
Program grants. The Senate-passed infrastructure bill would further
support our transition to a zero-emissions future.
In closing, thank you for this opportunity to share our progress
and our vision towards building a strong transit network--a system that
provides people across our region with more high-quality options to get
where they need to go. We appreciate all the support we receive from
our Federal partners. You truly are essential to our current and future
success.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF IRENE FERNANDO
Commissioner, Hennepin County Board of Commissioners
August 24, 2021
Thank you Chair Smith, Ranking Member Rounds, and Members of the
Committee: I extend my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to speak
and for all the work you do.
My name is Irene Fernando, Hennepin County Commissioner and Chair
of our Regional Railroad Authority. And as a commissioner, I am
dedicated to advancing equity by advocating for those who are
marginalized or structurally disenfranchised.
I am proud to represent District 2, which includes Golden Valley,
Medicine Lake, Minneapolis, Plymouth, and St. Anthony Village. I am in
my first term in office; I am the youngest woman to serve on Hennepin's
board; and alongside Commissioner Angela Conley, we are the first and
only commissioners of color in Hennepin's 169-year history.
History
Since the 1970s, the Twin Cities 7-county region has envisioned and
pursued a regional light rail transit system. Over the years, light
rail meaningfully complemented buses to create high-quality transit
connections for residents and visitors. This work occurs in partnership
with community and all levels of Government, with the Metropolitan
Council as our regional planning organization leading to implement
these important projects.
During the 1990s, Hennepin County steadily increased our commitment
to affordable housing and economic development. This work enhanced
light rail projects through Hennepin's Community Works program, which
tailored housing and economic development investments to directly
partner with local municipalities during major transportation and
transit projects.
And through today, Hennepin continues to deepen and broaden our
commitment to these areas by approving record investments to increase
affordable housing and access to home ownership, to promote more
transit oriented development, as well as to support entrepreneurs and
grow small businesses.
In partnership with the Metropolitan Council, other counties, and
the State, the Twin Cities 7-county region has achieved a multimodal
transit system to address the various needs of our residents. From
light rail transit and arterial bus rapid transit to ensure fast and
frequent connections, to local service for denser communities, to bus
rapid transit that connects across urban and suburban areas, to Metro
Mobility which offers public transit for riders with needs due to a
disability or health conditions--we are proud of this multiagency
commitment to delivering high-quality transportation system that
connects residents and visitors to our entire region.
Still with all of this progress, it is clear that there is much
more to do to advance a regional and multimodal transit system that
meets the needs of our diverse communities, by incorporating equity and
environmental justice into the design, construction, and operating of
transit projects.
Design can occur more equitably when we center additional
transit users. Historically, our system too heavily prioritized
suburban commuters coming in and out of downtown, as well as
riders who are able to choose transit. Given the shifts in work
locations and patterns, as well as a growing chasm in household
income levels, equitable design requires deeper commitment to
workers and families--so that night-shift health care workers
can travel safely, elderly can ride confidently, and a mother
with grocery bags and a toddler can efficiently get home.
Construction can occur more equitably when we establish
even more aggressive diversity and inclusion benchmarks for
contractors and subcontractors, as well as position
organizations and workers for success with these expectations.
We need to be data-informed and diligent in ensuring true
living wages, and we must partner with existing organizations
who have already been training local residents to learn these
important trades.
And operating can occur more equitably when we meet
residents' needs with a restorative response. We know that many
transit riders may also benefit from human services offered by
counties, so intentional partnership between transit operators
and counties can work to improve conditions for everyone.
We are hopeful for how transit can transform lives through projects
like Southwest Light Rail Extension, Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit, and
Arterial Bus Rapid Transit improvements like the B, E, and F lines. And
we are grateful and energized for the opportunity to partner to rise to
meet the challenges in our communities.
Specifically, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act can serve
Minnesotans by expanding transit service to underserved communities
across the metro, making system upgrades and repairs to aging
infrastructure, as well as improving air quality by expediting the
transition to electric buses. It will also bring numerous construction
jobs into the region, which we will benefit the stability of their
households and communities.
Blue Line Extension
Today, I am excited to talk about a project that will make an
incredible difference locally, with potential benefits across the
country. The Blue Line Extension, which has been in the works for over
30 years, is a 13-mile light rail project that will further our
region's transit vision, and will affordably connect students to
education, workers to jobs, patients to health care, and families to
resources. It will bring transformational benefits to residents of the
corridor, connecting Brooklyn Park, through Crystal, Robbinsdale, North
Minneapolis to downtown Minneapolis.
We are deeply committed to the Blue Line Extension because it is
more than a project to advance--it is a commitment to the residents and
communities along the corridor for ongoing engagement and economic
investment for years and decades to come.
The project was in a holding pattern for a number of years due to
the original alignment's colocation with the freight rail. After
numerous strategies to resolve this, it became clear that delivering
high-quality transit connections to our residents, in a timely manner,
must be the priority.
So about one year ago, in August of 2020, Hennepin County and
Metropolitan Council jointly began the community process needed to
revise the alignment, in order to move away from the colocation with
the freight rail. This need to revise the alignment afforded us a
unique opportunity to engage communities, during a pandemic, which
resulted in insightful and alarming feedback around equity,
gentrification, access to resources, disinvestment, and climate.
The Corridor
This project is positioned to serve among the most racially and
economically diverse communities in Minnesota, while also connecting
transit-reliant residents to the broader regional transit system.
The Blue Line Extension will serve communities with long-standing
disinvestment and disparities. This corridor has high concentrations of
Cost Burdened Households, have felt the lasting impacts of Historical
Redlining, experience more COPD Hospitalizations due to air quality,
and feel the devastations of premature death as measured by Years of
Potential Life Loss (see our ``Advancing Equity Along the Blue Line
Extension'' PDF).
To visualize this need, I have two maps here and several more in
your materials. The first map to my right looks at concentrations of
People of Color & Transit Commuters. As you can see, the proposed Blue
Line Extension serves communities who are reliant on transit, as well
as the most racially diverse communities in Hennepin.
The second map to my left looks at Home Value & Adult High School
Degrees. This corridor shows lower home values and lower degree
attainment for adults 25+. We know that property valuation connects to
disinvestment, and of course, we know there is a strong relationship
between education and income.
It seems regardless of the measurement, along lines of
environmental justice, health outcomes, education attainment, housing
stability, or economic success, these maps and data tell a consistent
and compelling story:
The Blue Line Extension will change the trajectory of what's
possible for so many of my neighbors today and for generations to come.
It will ignite much needed and long overdue economic development for
small businesses, while building wealth for working families.
For example, I live in North Minneapolis, which is 16 percent of
the City's population at about 70,000 residents. And if I wanted to
host you all tonight for a sit-down dinner--I couldn't. There aren't
places for people to celebrate life milestones, nor spots for my
neighborhood's kids to get their first jobs. It seems inconceivable to
have this many people in an area without restaurant choices, access to
jobs, or spaces to celebrate.
Extending to suburban communities in this corridor, they
demonstrated greater population growth in the 2020 Census than
anticipated. The largest suburb is Brooklyn Park, where the Blue Line
Extension will terminate, which grew nearly 14 percent between 2010 and
2020. And in the same period, Brooklyn Center grew by over 12 percent.
With ever-increasing population densities, the suburban communities in
this corridor are more ready for transit investment today than ever
before.
Anti-Displacement
After a century of disinvestment, racial covenants, and redlining,
we have a duty to ensure current residents, small businesses, and
cultural institutions are both engaged in and able to benefit from the
increased development in their neighborhoods.
The communities in this corridor have suffered disproportionately
over the past year--due to the pandemic, the resulting job and housing
disruptions, and historic harms that must be repaired.
This is why Hennepin and Met Council are proud to have established
an Anti-Displacement Workgroup that centers community voices and
convenes diverse partners and stakeholders, to develop robust anti-
displacement measures that counter the unintended harm from large scale
infrastructure projects, with specific goals to reduce racial
disparities and to create more equitable economic strategies.
The Anti-Displacement Workgroup is comprised of community leaders,
business owners, residents, and experts. Together, Hennepin and Met
Council issued a Request for Proposals to identify a community
organization who will lead this bold effort to build in creative ways
to incorporate community in the design, construction, and operation of
this large scale infrastructure project.
Our teams work deliberately every day to ensure the Blue Line
Extension benefits corridor residents; and minimizes physical,
economic, and cultural displacement.
Our anti-displacement goals closely align with the Biden-Harris
administration's Justice40 Initiative, which commits 40 percent of
Federal climate investment to benefit disadvantaged communities.
Transit is a climate investment, and in order to benefit disadvantaged
communities, intentional focus on anti-displacement is required.
Partnership and Thank You
We hope the Committee's goals align and look forward to the
possibility of partnering. We can achieve transformational benefits for
our communities with Federal support, and I am confident that this work
has the opportunity to be scaled to other jurisdictions due to
Hennepin's size, experiences, assets, and shortcomings.
We are a mix of urban, suburban, and exurban communities, and we
are adjacent to rural communities--all of whom need comprehensive
transit options to access vital resources such as level 1 trauma
centers, social services, veterans affairs, educational institutions,
job training, and airports. Innovations that work in Hennepin can apply
to counties larger and smaller, which makes this region a productive
space to consider new ideas.
In partnership, we could ask questions and create replicable
frameworks to center residents who have been historically marginalized,
to meaningfully incorporate climate change, and to address quantifiable
patterns of disinvestment through affordable housing, growing local
businesses, and access to jobs.
Thank you again for the time today, and I look forward to hearing
your questions or reactions. And thank you, Chair Smith.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ALISON ZELMS
City Administrator, City of Rochester, Minnesota
August 24, 2021
Madam Chair, My name is Alison Zelms (Z-E-L-M-S), City
Administrator for the City of Rochester. We are located a little over
an hour south of the twin cities metro area and our community has
approximately 119,000 residents and over 3 million visitors each year
for our world renowned medical care from the Mayo Clinic.
I'd like to begin by expressing our gratitude for several recent
Congressional actions.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) have been critically important sources
of emergency transit funding. Ridership on Rochester Public Transit
regular routes fell 90 percent in the early days of the pandemic; today
we are still 65 percent below 2019 levels.
The emergency operations funding allowed us keep our current bus
routes throughout the city running and to implement extensive cleaning
and other safety measures to keep operators and passengers safe. CARES
capital funding (with no local match required) allowed us to purchase
10 replacement buses without tapping depleted reserves to come up with
the local dollars. Without CARES and ARPA we would not have been able
to safely operate our essential service for the many essential workers
we have in Rochester.
We appreciate the consideration by Congress for President Biden's
and U.S. Department of Transportation 2022 budget. Investment in
infrastructure supports resiliency when it is needed most in our
communities. This investment allows for transit programs that create
and increase equitable access to opportunity. It includes $56.1 million
for Rochester's Bus Rapid Transit project which was included in the
U.S. Department of Transportation FY22 Budget.
Rochester's bus rapid transit project, known as The Link, is a
transformational public transit project currently in the design phase,
and has applied for funding from the Federal Transit Administration's
Capital Investment Grant's Small Starts program.
This high-amenity, high-frequency downtown transit service is part
of a comprehensive mobility strategy. Local funding through our
Destination Medical Center, the largest public-private economic
initiative in Minnesota and the catalyst for growth in Rochester, will
further the goal of creating a global destination for health and
wellness.
This once-in-a-generation project will have a broad impact in our
community, advancing important foundational principles and strategic
priorities, which include the following areas:
Environmental Sustainability. The Link will move people more
efficiently and reduce vehicle miles traveled in our community; Reduce
future environmental and livability problems associated with traffic
congestion; and the electric powered fleet will reduce our city's
environmental footprint and help the city transition away from fossil
fuels.
Economic Health. The Link will help reduce downtown parking demand,
allowing for higher and better land-use in the downtown core; will
encourage investment in high-density, affordable, mixed-use development
along transit corridors; and will be a signature amenity in Rochester
for residents and visitor by providing a superior customer transit
experience.
Social Equity. The Link provides access to employment and other
opportunities for populations who need it most--we know that economic
and social mobility is strongly correlated with physical mobility; and
will have a long-term halo effect, strengthening the overall Rochester
Public Transit system providing the opportunity to improve service to
transit-dependent populations.
In addition to this major effort, the City of Rochester sees
additional challenges and opportunities perhaps more unique to a
transit system outside of the metro area that we wanted to share:
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant adverse
effect on transit ridership. While the principles that shape our
mobility strategy remain in place, a high degree of uncertainty exists,
such as the following questions:
When will the public health crisis subside and the associated
operational restrictions and guidance from Federal, State, and local
authorities be eased?
When will people feel comfortable returning to public transit, from
a personal risk perspective? How will the recent proliferation of
remote work affect the rate of growth in transit demand?
We are confident that demand will return and grow. However, we
anticipate the rate of growth may need to be reevaluated.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sped the rate of change and encouraged
innovation, leading to an opportunity to reconsider and improve many
aspects of transit service delivery. For example, the need to disinfect
the onboard environment means new cleaning protocols and filtration
technologies that will lead to improved customer comfort.
Touchless mobile fare payment technology is being implemented in
Rochester--long-planned, but of increased importance now. Vehicle
technology continues to advance, such as improvements in range and
performance of battery electric vehicles and on-street pilot testing of
autonomous transit vehicles. In fact, the Minnesota Department of
Transportation and First Transit, Rochester Public Transit's contracted
operator, have a year-long autonomous shuttle pilot operating on the
streets in Rochester--expected to carry passengers starting this fall.
I ask the Members of this Committee to support continued Federal
resources for local transit agencies that will help us emerge healthy
and build our infrastructure for the future. With no clear end to the
impacts of COVID-19 in sight, operation support will continue to be
needed to guarantee we are able to provide essential services to the
most vulnerable populations.
Federal capital programs like those in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security Act (CARES) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as
well as ongoing transportation-specific programs such as the Rebuilding
American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program
are essential to implement sustainable equitable mobility available to
everyone that encompasses congestion management, social equity,
affordable housing, economic development, and climate action.
Thank you again for this opportunity and your time.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF GRACE WALTZ
Vice President of Public Policy, Minneapolis Regional Chamber of
Commerce
August 24, 2021
Chair Smith and Administrator Fernandez, thank you for the
opportunity to address the importance of investing in a strong transit
network. My name is Grace Waltz, and I am the Vice President of Public
Policy at the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. The Minneapolis
Regional Chamber is the largest local chamber in Minnesota with nearly
2,300 members in the 11-county metro region. Over the past 10 years,
the Minneapolis Regional Chamber and our partners have commissioned two
studies from national experts to assess the expected return on
investment from building out our region's transit system. These reports
have confirmed that in addition to providing more and better ways to
get around, investments in transit pay off, both for those who use
transit, and those who use our roads and highways. Building a
comprehensive transit system in our metro area will provide a major
return on investment--more than $9 billion in positive direct impacts.
Improved public transit is a key component to eliminating access
barriers to equitable employment and economic disparities. Employers
and employees have been seeking better transit, and this report shows
that it is the smart thing to do from a monetary perspective. It is
also important to note that our most recent study found that 81 percent
of the benefits of a better transit system would be enjoyed by people
and businesses using the region's street and highway system due to
reduced traffic, thus avoiding inconveniences like shipping delays and
long daily commutes.
Beyond the clear economic benefits, public support for improved
transit access is incredibly high. A 2018 poll commissioned by the
Minneapolis Regional Chamber showed that 74 percent of all respondents
said they would support the State of Minnesota making additional
investments in transit, including buses, trains and light rail. There
is also strong support for making transit easier to use. 58 percent
said that they would like to use public transit such as rail or buses
more often, but it is not convenient to or available from their home or
work. Nearly two-thirds believe that transit is necessary to compete
with other metro areas for jobs. 64 percent said that Minneapolis-Saint
Paul needs a better regional transit system in order to compete for
jobs with peer cities such as Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas, and
Portland that have more complete transit systems. These results make it
clear that Minnesotans recognize that transit is good for our economy
and their day to day lives, making our State stronger and more
competitive.
It also must be noted that the way we think about our transit
systems looks different than it did just 17 months ago. The COVID-19
pandemic and shift to remote work decimated demand for public transit
in the Twin Cities and across the country. While some companies have
begun the process of bringing their workers back to the office,
continued uncertainty has delayed the return to office for many
companies, and there continue to be some who may never bring their
workers back to prepandemic levels.
As we think about the transit system of the future, we need to
think about building systems that are more than about getting people to
and from work--we need systems that allow people to use transit to go
to a doctor's appointment, the grocery store, out to dinner, or to a
sporting event. To put it plainly, it's no longer enough to build a
system that only gets people from Point A to Point B. We need a system
that gets people from Point A, to C, to D, E, and F, back to A again.
Federal, State, and local leaders recognize that we are at a unique
moment in time when it comes to making innovative investments. There is
momentum for transit investments here in Minnesota that strengthen our
economy and make our State an even better place for businesses and
employees. Investment in transit is a true win-win that helps more
people live their lives, get to their jobs, providing benefits to
everyone in the region. We know that businesses prefer to locate near
transit where employees and customers will have more travel options.
Investing in transit now will generate positive impacts for our economy
for decades, including additional State and local tax revenues of
nearly the same magnitude as the investment costs--$143 million a year
or $2.86 billion over 20 years.
Economic benefits aside, the recent United Nations climate report
painted a terrifying picture of what is to come if we do not change the
way we treat the planet, and transit plays a major rule in a cleaner
future. Over this past summer Minnesotans have witnessed the
devastating impacts of climate change in our own backyards, which is to
say nothing of the impacts in other parts of the country and around the
world.
The Minneapolis Regional Chamber has been advocating strongly for
transit investments--and this ROI information only strengthens our
resolve and desire to make this happen. We are hopeful that
policymakers will recognize the significant benefits that comes with
transit and will make smart choices in support of investments that
benefit our economy, employees, and everyone in the region. Thank you
for focusing on this very important issue.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CASSANDRA BELYEU JOHNSON
Transit Rider, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
August 24, 2021
Hello and thank you for your time today as I talk about what public
transportation means to me and the community of Brooklyn Park and
Brooklyn Center. My name is Cassandra Belyeu and I am a resident of
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota on the borderline of Brooklyn Center, where I
have resided for the past 4 years. I am a passionate advocate for
transportation access. I am here today to share my perspectives with
Senator Tina Smith and the panel.
Transportation is lacking in my area, an issue I feel needs to be
addressed. My research on the Metro website has revealed only four
buses that I am aware of that service the cities of Brooklyn Center and
Brooklyn Park. Anyone who misses one of these buses will be forced to
wait an hour for the next arrival or walk long distances of potentially
over a mile. During the Minnesota winters, such a long wait or walk can
be an extremely difficult challenge.
Without access to reliable transportation, simple tasks like
shopping and receiving a haircut can occupy significant portions of
someone's day. While I have personal access to a car today, I didn't
always. I can still recall spending half my day planning a haircut due
to lack of access to timely transportation, arriving a full hour early
just to secure my spot with my barber. I would also rely on family to
pick me up and take me home afterwards, if my haircut appointment ended
in the evening when buses were less available. During the weekends, I
always had to get a ride, because buses were even more unavailable than
during the week.
My story is far from the only one, and the time it occupied in my
day shows the necessity of reliable transportation in the Brooklyn Park
and Brooklyn Center area, where currently it is lacking. My story
raises the question of what would happen to other Brooklyn Park and
Brooklyn Center residents like me who either temporarily or permanently
rely on public transportation.
I have also spoken with friends in order to hear their perspective
on what public transportation means to them. I have a friend who would
love to move to the northwest suburbs, particularly Brooklyn Park, but
finds such a move difficult due to lack of public transportation. My
friend's story shows that public transportation is not only a means of
offering access to numerous locations for current residents, but also a
means of bringing people into our communities.
In addition to knowing people who are unsure about moving to the
area, I also know people who live in the Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn
Center area who have been stranded and needed me for a ride home
because they couldn't get home using Brooklyn Center transit. Instead,
I had to pick them up where they were. No bus ran close to their home,
meaning they would've had to have walked miles if I hadn't picked them
up, and in very bad weather.
Access to public transportation is also extremely important for
children and during holidays. During Halloween and other public
activities, children often have trouble arriving because the events can
be so far spread out.
I am here to say that the transportation situation right now is not
working for many people in the Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center area.
I would like to demand that the buses in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn
Park run longer hours, including hours that go beyond rush hour into
the evening and weekend times, specifically Sundays where they often do
not run at all, and that the buses offer more stops, particularly in
underprivileged communities.
Even though I have a car, I would still like to use public
transportation from time to time. During trips to the Mall of America,
I still use public transportation. My example shows that even people
with access to personal transportation can still benefit from stronger
public transportation.
My story and the stories of countless Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn
Center residents raises the question of what access to public
transportation means for residents, and shows the tremendous effect it
can have on the community.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF NURIA FERNANDEZ
Administrator, Federal Transit Administration
August 24, 2021
Good morning. Chair Smith and Members of the Subcommittee, thank
you for inviting me to appear before you today here in the Twin Cities.
This is a truly pivotal time for our Nation's public transportation
systems. Thanks to your diligence and hard work, the Senate recently
passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The legislation
includes $550 billion in new Federal investment in America's roads and
bridges, water infrastructure, resilience, internet, and more. The
transit industry will receive almost $90 billion in guaranteed
funding--the most significant Federal support for transit in our
Nation's history.
That proposed funding is not just an abstract number. It will
improve people's lives throughout the Nation. Here in Minnesota, 11
percent of trains and buses in the State are past their useful life.
It's clear the State of Minnesota would benefit greatly from the more
than $818 million designated under the Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act to improve public transportation.
I can confidently say that this State has been a great partner in
advancing public transportation. The Biden-Harris administration is
laser-focused on supporting good work in transit, like what we are
seeing in Minnesota.
I want to take a moment to thank Chairman Brown and Members of this
Subcommittee for all you did to shepherd this vital infrastructure bill
through the Senate these last few months. I know it was not easy!
With the passage of the infrastructure bill through the Senate, I
am more optimistic than I have ever been. This level of Federal funding
will touch lives in every corner of the country, including here in
Minnesota. At long last, transit systems will have the resources to
expand, modernize and offer 21st-century technology solutions and
services that Americans deserve, and should expect, to help get them to
jobs, school, and vital services.
From right here in the Twin Cities region to smaller urban and
rural communities throughout Minnesota. We will ensure safe and
efficient transportation for everyone.
The legislation also includes funding dedicated to zero-emission
vehicles--and funding to train transit workers who maintain and operate
those vehicles--advancing the Administration's climate and job creation
goals. As we continue to switch from fossil fuels to electric or
hydrogen, we will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that play such a
big role in our planet's rising temperatures. We will also build the
manufacturing, power production, and maintenance jobs of the future,
like the ones here in Minnesota where they're producing the transit
fleet of the future right now. In doing all this, the Biden-Harris
administration will commit to the men and women who build transit and
keep it running--we will not leave working Americans behind while
transit moves forward.
This work is more important than ever, given the recent alarming
report from the U.N. Panel on Climate Change, which declared our last
decade the hottest in history and confirmed carbon dioxide is the
leading contributor to climate change. In fact, according to the
report, unless we sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions--and soon--
global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, after which climate
consequences will be even more severe.
The folks here in Minnesota know all about this. This summer has
been drier than any since the 1980s. You have all walked outside to the
haze of a sun blotted out by the smoke of wildfires. From coast to
coast, while the skies might be smoky, the evidence is crystal clear--
we have no more time to waste.
The Federal Transit Administration's Region 5 Administrator Kelley
Brookins, who leads our work in Minnesota, is here with me today.
Kelley and her team partner with the Minnesota Department of
Transportation and 51 transit agencies throughout the State to fund
public transportation serving all 87 Minnesota counties. As part of her
work, she administers approximately $394 million in funds from the
American Rescue Plan, which was signed by President Biden earlier this
year. These funds are helping transit agencies across Minnesota
continue to operate, despite significant losses in ridership and
revenue due to COVID. Among the ARP funds apportioned to the State:
$23 million is going to Minnesota's smaller cities,
$15.3 million is designated for rural transit, including
tribal transit, and
More than $700,000 dollars will support service for seniors
and people with disabilities.
We are supporting the travel needs of workers in Saint Cloud,
helping college students at Mankato get to class, enabling members of
the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians to get to doctor's
appointments, and much more.
Here in the Twin Cities, the Metropolitan Council has made a
commitment to expand transit--with six new high-capacity lines on the
way--which will truly transform communities in the region by closing
gaps in service and offering mobility options to more people in the
community. Through our Capital Investment Grants Program, FTA has
helped support the amazing successes seen by the Bus Rapid Transit
program here in the Twin Cities. The Met Council is creating a BRT
system that can be held up as a standard for other cities. As we move
forward, FTA also looks forward to supporting the expansion of that
program and the light rail. Currently in our pipeline, we are working
with Met Council to develop:
Two bus rapid transit lines: the Orange Line and the Gold
Line, and
Two light rail projects: the Green Line Southwest Extension
and the Blue Line Bottineau Extension.
When built, these projects will add 55 miles to the transit network
and extend through a dozen communities, creating better connections to
opportunities. Those opportunities will truly be open to everyone who
calls the Twin Cities, and the suburbs, home. Equity is a critical
issue to FTA, and to the Biden-Harris administration, and it is why I
am so proud to be working in transit. I've often said it is the great
equalizer. Once those doors open and you step on board, everyone has
the same opportunity to go where they need to go, to be who they want
to be. These Bus Rapid Transit and light rail routes will serve
otherwise underserved communities, where not everyone can afford a car.
They will make sure that, regardless of how you travel, everyone has an
equal shot at getting where they're going.
This truly bold transit expansion will support a region so
important to the successful economic recovery of Minnesota. It will
also give us a unique opportunity. Transit can be a tool that is so
often lacking. It gives us the chance to address the inequities of our
past. Sometimes, these mistakes, these inequities, were caused by blind
neglect. Other times, it was a conscious choice to leave some people in
the shadows. One of my goals at FTA is to ensure that transit brings a
light of opportunity for those who have been denied it by our system
for far too long.
Transit won't just be changing lives here in the Twin Cities
either. To the southeast, we look forward to seeing the City of
Rochester launch its first bus rapid transit line, connecting downtown
residents and visitors with the Mayo Clinic, the University of
Minnesota-Rochester campus, and other important destinations. There is
also a major transit-oriented development site planned along the route.
FTA is proud to be a partner supporting critical transit projects
in Minnesota. Thank you, Met Council CEO David Greenfield, Chair
Charlie Zelle, and Metro Transit General Manager Wes Kooistra for your
vision and leadership. We look forward to getting a first-hand look at
the Orange Line, which is set to open later this year.
With that, I would again like to thank the Subcommittee for the
opportunity to appear before you today, and I welcome your questions.
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF CHAIR SMITH
FROM NURIA FERNANDEZ
Q.1. In response to a question on efforts to prevent
displacement, you noted that displacement is a problem that has
occurred nationwide, and that there are some best practices to
combat displacement as a result of new transit projects. What
steps has FTA taken, and what additional steps will FTA be
taking, to compile best practices to prevent displacement? Will
you be holding a roundtable for grantees or publishing guidance
for transit agencies or others with that information?
A.1. FTA is committed to ensuring that persons displaced as a
direct result of Federal or federally assisted projects are
treated fairly, consistently, and equitably in accordance with
the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition
Policies Act so that displaced persons do not suffer
disproportionate injuries as a result of projects designed for
the benefit of the public as a whole. The President's Justice40
Initiative is an important part of that commitment, with the
goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of
relevant Federal investments to disadvantaged communities.
Transit development often spurs other types of development in
an area, which can lead to displacement of existing residents
contributing to patterns of residential segregation and
disparities in access to opportunity, and therefore FTA is
committed to ensuring its Justice40 Initiative does not lead to
displacement. FTA is also committed to civil rights statutes
related to transportation, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq. (Title VI), which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or
national origin in any program or activity that receives
Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance. The FTA
Equity Analysis completed by a grantee during the planning
stage with regard to where a project is located or sited is one
Title VI compliance tool that utilizes demographic data in
order to better understand how DOT programs impact various
groups, including communities that are minority, low-income,
and limited English proficient. FTA is committed to working
with our stakeholders and Federal partners to identify
solutions to remove infrastructure that has displaced or
separated communities. We are examining how we can advance
equity and further embed fairness in our policies and programs,
and I look forward to continuing to work with you on this
issue.
Q.2. In evaluating grant proposals, how does FTA consider anti-
displacement efforts? Do you think FTA's current evaluation
process puts enough weight on anti-displacement provisions in
awarding grants? How might FTA plan to update grant evaluation
criteria to address anti-displacement?
A.2. The Secretary has made clear that he is dedicated to
proactively addressing the needs of communities that have been
historically overburdened and underserved by our Nation's
transportation systems, and I am too. In FTA's Notices of
Funding Opportunities (NOFO), we provide priority consideration
for projects that advance and support the goal of the
President's Justice40 Initiative, which is to deliver 40
percent of the overall benefits of relevant Federal investments
to disadvantaged communities. However, many of FTA's
discretionary programs do not cause displacement since they
fund projects such as bus procurements. The FTA Capital
Investment Grants (CIG) program, which funds new transit
projects and expansions to existing systems, specifically takes
into consideration in the evaluation and rating process the
plans and policies in place at the local level to maintain and
increase affordable housing to avoid displacements and
gentrification effects that can sometimes occur. FTA's Pilot
Program for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Planning grants
fund comprehensive or site-specific planning studies for
projects seeking funding through the CIG program. We are
currently developing the FY22 TOD Planning grant NOFO and
looking at ways to further incorporate Justice40 and
homelessness considerations.
Q.3. Displacement is an issue with ramifications across many
Federal agency jurisdictions. How is the FTA working with other
agencies to address the impacts of displacement and work to
mitigate displacement as a result of federally supported
projects? More specifically, is DOT/FTA working with HUD, EPA,
or any other Federal agencies to prevent physical, cultural, or
economic displacement?
A.3. FTA works with our Federal partners, including EPA and
HUD, to provide important protections and assistance for
individuals and communities affected by federally funded
projects. FTA is currently meeting on a regular basis with HUD
to discuss how the agencies can work together to administer
grant programs with other agencies' programs in mind. The focus
thus far has been on FTA's Areas of Persistent Poverty and
Transit Oriented Development Planning discretionary grant
programs.
Q.4. Several witnesses discussed procurement strategies to
allow more small contractors and contractors of color to win
contracts. How do these efforts vary from transit agency to
transit agency? How is FTA communicating best practices to
transit agencies with respect to contracting opportunities, and
is that communication sufficient? Does FTA's current system of
contracting goals adequately incentivize transit agencies to
meaningfully improve access to procurement opportunities for
contractors of color?
A.4. FTA plays a key role in connecting small businesses,
minority-owned businesses, and women-owned businesses with
economic opportunities as we build transportation systems. Our
primary tool for ensuring women- and minority-owned businesses
have access to DOT-funded contracts is the Disadvantaged
Business Enterprise (DBE) program, applicable to most FTA
recipients with federally funded capital, operating, and
planning contracts. Since 2012, the DOT program has required
FTA recipients with a DBE program to reach out to DBEs and
potential DBEs, and to have a Small Business Element (SBE) to
foster small business participation, which expands the impact
of the program beyond certified DBEs to include small
businesses.
Procurement efforts at the local level naturally vary. Each
transit agency develops its own plan to foster small business
participation that includes strategies tailored for the size of
the agency, the types of contracts they let, and other local
conditions. FTA approved these programs in 2012 and continues
to review them as submitted.
The DBE program is a DOT program. The contract goals and
incentives in the program are determined by the regulations.
That said, flexibility is a hallmark of the DBE program and FTA
coordinates extensively with the Secretary's Office, the Office
of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, FHWA, and FAA
to identify challenges and opportunities in the program for
recipients, certifiers, and small businesses. FTA offers an
extensive library of training materials on our DBE webpage,
including best practices in the SBE program. We also partner
with the National Transit Institute to offer regular training
in the DBE program, one of NTI's most in-demand courses. FTA's
efforts to improve access to procurement opportunities for
contractors of color have been successful: nationwide, FTA
recipients regularly meet their local goals, which are based on
DBE availability.
Q.5. Have you identified any weakness or loopholes in FTA's Buy
America statutes, regulations, or practices? If so, what steps
are you taking to address them?
A.5. It is vitally important for FTA to ensure that taxpayer
dollars support American jobs and manufacturing. FTA's Buy
America statutes, regulations, and practices protect American
jobs by requiring that all steel, iron, and manufactured goods
used in transit projects must be produced in the United States.
They also require audits of revenue rolling stock purchases to
ensure that these procurements are compliant with Buy America.
To further strengthen FTA's Buy America program, FTA is working
to implement President Biden's Executive Order 14005,
``Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of
America's Workers'', as well as the Build America, Buy America
title of the bipartisan infrastructure law. Accordingly, FTA is
committed to working closely with the Office of Management and
Budget's Made in America Office to evaluate Buy America
policies and practices, including the waiver review process. In
addition, FTA is working to update the Buy America regulations
at 49 CFR Part 661 to incorporate statutory changes and to make
other amendments.
Additional Material Supplied for the Record
METRO BLUE LINE EXTENSION
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
ADVANCING EQUITY ALONG THE BLUE LINE EXTENSION
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
STATEMENT OF NEW FLYER OF AMERICA
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
STATEMENT OF RAFAEL ORTEGA, CHAIR OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY REGIONAL RAIL
AUTHORITY AND RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONER--DISTRICT 5
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
METRO DIAGRAM
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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