Seventy-four percent of private sector businesses serving the public transit industry incurred flat or declining business over the past year due to uncertainty in federal investment, a down economy and a lack of investment on the state and local level, according to a study released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Of those reporting a decrease in business, the average decrease was 25 percent. 

The study, "Impacts of the Recession on Public Transportation Businesses," reached out to APTA private sector business members serving the public transportation industry and revealed that 56 percent say they lost business from their public transportation clients and 52 percent of businesses say they expect to layoff employees or cut back hiring as a result. Seventeen percent say they may have to shift operations and business development to other countries.

"This is further evidence that tells us now is the time to invest in our public transit infrastructure to create jobs and boost our economy," said William Millar, APTA President. "Cutting money to public transit systems simply means the loss of jobs and most of which are in the private sector."

Currently, there is a proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives to further cut federal investment in public transportation by more than 35 percent. According to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, these proposed cuts could lead to the loss of 141,000 jobs.

Seventy-four percent list uncertainty due to delay in federal authorization as having a negative impact on business revenue and two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents name the current weakness of the U.S. economy as having a negative effect on their business revenue.