Collectively, the ground transportation industry moves three billion passengers a year, approximately the same total number of passengers moved by the equally vital airline industry.DC Trails

The Transportation Alliance (TTA) has joined six other major passenger ground transportation trade associations in signing an unprecedented industry letter to President Trump and Congressional leaders asking for $12 billion to save this essential national infrastructure.

The letter, sent to the White House as well as to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, laid out an eight-point plan for saving companies who operate a variety of transportation, including taxis, liveries, rideshare, buses, shuttles, paratransit, and non-emergency medical trips. The eight points are:

1. Deem the industry a national “essential service.”

2.Provide $12 billion in immediate cash grants to fleet operators to provide industry relief.

3. Ensure guaranteed vehicle loan deferment/forbearance for at least 120 days.

4. Declare the industry is eligible for zero-interest SBA loans and ensure such loans are made available within two weeks of application, with no payments due for six months.

5.Mandate that all government accounts with transportation companies be paid within five days of billing.

6. Require insurance companies to suspend auto liability premiums on passenger transportation vehicles pulled out of service, without requiring transportation companies turn in their license plates.

7. Allow operators to postpone real estate tax payments as well as vehicle fuel and utilities payments such as phone, electricity and internet services, without penalty or disconnection.

8. Open a pipeline to cleaning products to ensure vehicles are regularly sanitized, and to help our industry promote the safety of our services.

“Our industry is intricately linked to the airlines and tourism, to schools and universities, and to healthcare access and vital services for our most vulnerable,” said Thomas P. Arrighi, president of The Transportation Alliance. “We need to make sure the people, vehicles, call centers, maintenance facilities are here to keep America moving when this is over. We have a pragmatic plan to do that. But we can’t do it without help from Washington.”

The letter was signed by the leaders of The Transportation Alliance, the American Bus Association, the National Limousine Association, the Global Business Travel Association, the United Motorcoach Association, the American Ground Transportation Association, and the Near Airport Parking Industry Trade Association.

Collectively, the industry moves three billion passengers a year, approximately the same total number of passengers moved by the equally vital airline industry. Hundreds of thousands of drivers — most of them their own independent, small American companies — affiliate with the group’s member companies for their livelihood.