Transportation for America released a new report, World-Class American Transit, which details the level of investment needed to create world-class transit service in each of the 452 U.S. urbanized areas with populations over 50,000. 

The communities are home to more than 230 million people, representing nearly 65% of the U.S. population.

Transportation for America’s Findings

The analysis finds that a $4.6 trillion investment across all levels of government over 20 years ($230 billion per year) would be required to build, operate, and maintain a transit network that approaches the level of service within a cohort of 17 global cities with world-class transit systems. While that represents a significant increase in current spending, it still falls short of the $6.3 trillion the U.S. is expected to spend on highways over the same period.

“Americans deserve top-quality transit,” said Beth Osborne, president and CEO of Smart Growth America. “Right now, most of the country has infrequent, unreliable transit service that doesn’t go to all the places people need to go. Not even New York City reaches the level of the places we studied. But if we triple our investment in transit, every single city over 50,000 people — over 450 communities — can have top-notch transit service connecting them to necessities and opportunity. It just requires a sustained commitment to frequent, reliable transit service, and a willingness to stop governing as if Americans should settle for less.”

To establish a benchmark for world-class service, the group evaluated 17 cities worldwide and found that each transit fleet scaled with population, averaging more than 130 transit vehicles in service per 100,000 residents. 

In comparison, the analysis finds that, on average, American cities operate 27 transit vehicles per 100,000 residents, providing only a fifth of the service offered by our peers. 

Approaching World Class Service

To approach world-class transit service over the next 20 years, the report finds the U.S. would need to:

• Nearly triple the number of transit vehicles in service, investing $180 billion to add roughly 115,000 buses and rail vehicles.

• Invest more than $859 billion to build more than 7,500 miles of dedicated transit right-of-way, allowing service to operate reliably and independently of traffic. 

• Operating the expanded vehicle fleet at reliable, frequent levels would require doubling the annual investment in transit operations to $170 billion by 2045.

• To eliminate the existing transit repair backlog and to keep pace with the operation of new services, an additional $403 billion would be required to maintain the new assets acquired in this scenario.

Federal policy has consistently prioritized highways, with transit receiving less than one-third of federal transportation spending since 1956. Since the 1980s, federal transportation funding has followed a roughly 80/20 split: 80% for highways and only 20% for transit, according to Transportation for America officials. 

“Americans should be able to rely on transit that gets them where they need to go, when they need to be there,” said Steve Davis, interim director of Transportation for America. “Good transit saves families money and provides vital access to jobs, housing, and opportunity. We also need dramatic changes in how we plan, build, and operate transit. Still, this report starts to show the level of commitment required to deliver the kind of transit Americans deserve, finally.”

Moving Ahead

While the report focuses on the investment required to reach a new world-class transit benchmark, the analysis finds that such investment would pay for itself through household savings. By modestly reducing the need for car ownership, Americans could save more than $5.4 trillion over 20 years, even without accounting for broader economic, environmental, and public health benefits, the report finds.

Officials said the report establishes a clear benchmark for world-class transit and provides a target to achieve it, giving advocates and decision-makers a concrete target at both the national and local levels. It does not prescribe a specific funding source. Instead, it sets a credible baseline for the scale of investment needed as lawmakers discuss the next federal surface transportation and question the future of the Mass Transit Account.

Future analysis will build on this foundation by identifying funding options and advancing the policy reforms needed to ensure Americans have transit that is not just better, but truly world-class.