person and members have the option is always to appear virtually or in person. last thursday i invitedpe their witness fta administered or nuria fernandez to columbus to see the excitement in the community as they plan to build one of the best rapid transit networks in the country. acolumbus is growing and we pass the chips act in ohio it will grow even faster faster. this meant in the infrastructure bill will help central ohio prepare for more people expand service connect or iowans with these exciting job opportunities with bus rapid transit. we visited the west broad street corridor and janet pinkerton but we saw the opportunity for fast bus service that will spur more development in new affordable housing along the route. columbus is not alone. a new brt route planning its own network a and communities like pittsburgh and senator toomey's stateng have investments moving forward with fta support there for too long the unitedw states hasn't not invested in public transit the way we should. we have fallen far behind the rest of the world the new transit technology. with a bipartisan infrastructure law we are finally working to catch up. a bipartisan and for structural includes the largest investment in public transit not just to build upis the numbers but what that investment to do and how this will matter in ohio is live in people across the country. it will connect more committees to mean faster service and more neighborhoods in open up more job art into the soul workers are limited by a less the doesn't reachh the jobsite. families are continuing to feel the pain of high gas prices after russia's attack on ukraine. if there's a reliable bus orr train nearby workers don't have to choose between paying for gas or making the rent. it will make a difference especially in so many communities s that have not had reliable transit. black and communities have been red-lined and cut off by jobsite interstates and walled off from neighborhoods in rural areas where walking is not an option in smaller cities and towns that haven't been able to afford expensive transit like big cities. i grew up in one of the cities. alongside these opportunities we know the transit industry faces challenges great high fuel prices diesel bus operations in the private sector transit agencies compete for qualified workers. we are lucky to have an exceptional leader to deliver on the prop -- promises of the. structure bill. that's where nuria fernandez comes for it but she's been on the job since last june and she is the first one of color and first latina to leave ftap chanter -- in the wake of the pandemic workers are still adjusting their commutes. we need to preserve transit routes and help transit agencies keep their highly-skilled workers on the job. administrator fta is an focused on implementing the most consequential and in our administration. fta is hoping going to get stay the art zero-emission buses on the road and it's important in our fight against climate change to clean the air in our communities with new modern buses for americans to wright. fta makes it easier for agencies to comply withe the no low traditional bus program. ft has worked to get funding out the door to capitol investment grants program and help rural committees with their options. the administrator has maintained that same commitment and thank you ms. fernandez for giving transit workers are strong boy set fta she's working to make sure workers at the training needed for the next generation of service. fta has continues sharp focus. in this committee we have always supportedat safety efforts. i worked with ranking member to me and chairman crapo on safety issues and the infrastructure bill. minister fernandez of a tortured testimony. >> thank you mr. chairman and administrator fernandez welcome. we'll hear from the fta on the infrastructurer law and i as i'e stated before we have borrowed billions more dollars and that's what happened with the sloppy lottery so much new spending $118 billion had to be transferredrr from the treasurys general fund, the highway trust fund which is a specific account finance with gas tax revenue to cover mass transit and highway construction casebeer president biden would make the shortfall by suspending the federal gas tax for three months reasoning that the solution to high gas prices isn't more supply. more debt. it suggested we want to help commuters and families suffering from inflation we could start by reversing the administration's actions to keep us from using america's own fossil energy. federal spending certain they should be driven by an assessment of our nations need however last year's infrastructure law seems in many ways to been driven by democratic legal imperatives. the bill funnels electric vehicle charging stations. transit wass given $108.1 billin over a five-yearas period. put that number into perspective it's almost twice what transit does in the last reauthorization and this staggering sum is on top of the nearly $85 billion just one year of the covid pandemic. the vast majorityis that money would drive covid losses. nearly $85 billion exceeded the combined annual operating capitol costs of all transit agencies in united states of americail combined. at the time democrats try to justify paying for more than 100% of transit agency budgets by saying the transit systems would collapse that declining ridership and the collapse of state and local tax revenue. except the tax collection set an all-time record in 2020 which was exceeded in 2021 and on top of this all-time record tax revenue collected by state and local governments congress gave states more than $850 billion to deal with covid. we are still billions of dollars will go to transit agencies that are facing systemic ridership declines will the for covid. reaching a high of 10.7 billion trips in 2014 ridership has steadily fallen by almost 8% in 2019 alone the for covid. last two years steeper declines in ridership by over 70%. according to fta ridership now is only about 60% of pre-pandemic levels. agency leaders in new york pittsburgh and washington have all said many ofus their riders simply won't return in transit agencies that offered ridership don't expect that to happen this decade. why give away more taxpayer money to agencies serving far fewer riders. shockingly it at ta has allowed transit agency seeking federal funding for projects to expand systems to use pre-pandemic ridership data from 2019. transit agencies largest source for extension projects is fta grant program. there are transit agency seeking millions and even billions of federal tax funding for projects for streetcars commuter rail light rail and bus transit and to justify their funding request for fta has allowed these transit agencies to usee pre-pandemic data on ridership from 2019 and 2020. this boggles the mind as transit ridership was already -- pre-covid and transit administrations are admitting read it ridership will not -- it will have the invective increasing long-term maintenance backlogs but i have no doubt if you let years after these projectsts are completed transit agencies welcome back to congress pleading for more subsidies to operate systems that have become far too long for demand. also concerningg is fda's will furl disregard of the law. the law requires agencies to make progress on the deferred maintenance backlogs in order to qualify for grants. fta plans to allow agencies to qualify for grants even when they are falling further behind in the overall deferred maintenance. that's no way to protect taxpayers wanted to follow the law and speaking of protecting taxpayers/people shoulde feel safe while using transit. as i stated at the last hearing the rate is a deeply disturbing it doesn't appear to fta is taking this issue seriously enough. let me conclude with the observation. understand it's not entirely transit agencies felt that some people are choosing not to use their services. that doesn't mean congress should be throwing billions of federal taxpayer dollars at them to build out more services for writers that they don't have but i look forward to discussing the future of mass transit. >> thank you senator toomey in the chair recognizes administrator fernandez. thank you for your service. mr. chairman good morning chairman brown ranking member to me members of the committee it's a pleasure to testify on the transit administration bipartisan infrastructure law. if the privilege of a lifetime to lead to fta for such of critical time for public transin or ago covid-19 was ravaging transit systems impacting every aspect of industry you appreciate congress providing $70 billionn really funding for communities nationwide in response to this crisis. it made certainn americans had the rides rides they need and serving hundreds of elephants of jobs that transit agencies in the supply chain that maintains transit vehicles facilities and more. transit help keep america open. ridership is 60% of pre-pandemic levels and it's climbing every day. recognizing the importance of transit and so many committees congress has instructed fta for $800 billion in funding over the next five years and we don't take that responsibility lightly. i will highlight fta's plan for the future. on safety secretary buttigieg said every transit renner deserves a safe and reliable trip in every transit worker should be a link conduct their duties without fear of injury and we are doing in a everything in our power to them do that. many transit agencies are required by law with equal representation of front-line workers. by the end of the year all agencies inmi urbanized areas wl have a safety plan to comply with the requirements including the safety committee. we are also collecting data. these actions will give fda more safety needs and resources to address those needs. our workwe development and workr safety is of particular concern for protecting and expanding the transit is a top priority. transit workers needic more co-workers. thanks to the dedicated funding from congress fta established o work for center. the center has reached thousands of people in several hundred agencies with targeted technical assistance on to upscaling their work for sprint sending another critical aspect in assuring safety of our transit systems is to keep it in good repair. from rails in your two wheels in cincinnati the fta will work swiftly performed the funding s available after the preparatis at. this summer we anticipate having other competitive programs. regarding the accessible plan i want to thank the committee in congress formm providing the resources making headway in the backlog of 900 transit rail systems that remain inaccessible fork two years after the -- our focus is not only with big cities. fta has supported transit and rural rural in tribal areas for decades. it's those areas where transit can make all the difference for senior citizens if our veteran who needs care. inin closing going forward we wl adapt to meet the changing needs of our nation that i want to take this opportunityre to reiterate despite the challenges of tandem with a core value of transit is not change. over the next five years and beyond allon of this at the fta are excited to continue working with this committeend and all te communities t states and nation who rely on transit to invest in historic funding equitably. thank you and i will be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you administratordi fernandez. thank you for coming in visiting the west broad street corridor. i'm sure we will receive other requests for funding the coming years that the bipartisan for structure law provided advance preparations for the program including significant hunting for the crt project and a small start category. we do it 80% federal share in the federal government rarely contribute that much for transit tragic sprint should fta give a share of the project where the law allows? there was an increase of 23 billion the funding of capitol transit for the next five years. with a sustained investment in the reviews into the own stability the past year alone we have seen a 150% increase in the pipeline of projects entering the new start project full capacity and expedited projectct delivery. of the current projects are for small start so i've heard from the project sponsors especially smaller andry midsize cities tht a local match can present a problem and we are working closely with them as applications become available to assist them with identifying not only what their needs are from a national perspective. with the amount of federal funds we can make available to them. >> in your testimony stated fta will initiate the program established by the new infrastructure law and the excess ability program and the rail vehicle replacement program. the greater cleveland regional transit authority has made significant progress in making its rail stations accessible to riders with disabilities that the agency has 17 remaining stops. these investments are long overdue and rta has another pressing problem. the replacement of its entire rail. agencies like cleveland and philadelphia and the ranking members said in his state have or of course the date back to the carter and reagan administration so that means armany rail cars are in excess f 40 or so. possible for 19 to have a plan up for these projects later of this year? >> mr. chairman we will issue a notice of funding opportunity for the program this summer and hope to have that announced by the end of the year. regarding a the rail vehicle replacement program as you noted a lot of the transit agency's particular the legacy agencies have vehicles that exceeded their useful life and that affects the timely delivery of service and impact the schedule. we will be issuing a notice of funding opportunity for that program this fall and hope to have thehe announcement by early next year. >> my last question i've heard from two agencies in ohio southwest ohio regional transit in akron metro that they are having issues of post projects. fta is created a categorical exclusion. i'm a strong supporter of the environment and how you are but a categorical exclusion should be easy to apply for particularly for transit projects that almost by definition help the environment to these agencies face challenges with her uniform relocation act and appraisal requirements. these issues are challenging for small and medium-sized agencies. thank you for looking at these issues and can fta keep working to find solutions toty help thee agencies and any other project any other projects that any other project with a similar any other project with a similar challenge is. >> yes mr. chairman we certainly can and we have worked closely with grantees as they are considering new systems extending systems and they also offer free courses through the national transit institute. assy you stated there a lot of challenges particularly for small operators and we will continue for a regional offices to provide that service and make that available to guide them through the process. >> thank you. i will ask another question since your answers are short of the most witnesses. we talked about how agencies are approaching the use of battery electric and hydrogen powered buses as we discussed the city of canton ohioay is in nation's leader in hydrogen buses. what are you hearing from me industry and how is it helping to consider both of those technologies? >> it's exciting to hear the industry overall is making transitions and a lot of them substantially taking advantage of formula dollars to transition their fleets and that the bipartisan infrastructure law as you no mr. chairman the increase in funding is going to make available specific percentages, 25% or low emission vehicles and we are seeing some members of the industry pursuing the type of technology that will reduce greenhouse gas and technology that can better address their needs. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman and administrator fernandez welcome and just for the record the chairman's observation that your answers tend to be shorter than those of us witnesses is a very high compliment here in the senate. in your written testimony you highlight that secretary buttigieg said safety is then northstar. despite having far fewer riders new york chicago l.a. and philadelphia among others are seeing spikes in transit crime. new york city's mayor a former said he doesn't feel safe on the subway. he mentioned every transit rider deserves a safe secure and transit trip to the agency's as i mentioned during my opening comments will receive staggering amounts of federal taxpayer funding recently including funding that could be used for security and to combat crime. my question is how much of all of this money that we have recently delivered to transit agencies is actually being used to fight crime in our transit systems? >> senator toomey every transit agencycy is committed to safetys is the u.s. department of setransportation and what we are experiencing in what transit agencies are experiencing at this time is the result of many factors. given the pandemic the effect that has had on loss of life and livelihood. >> i have limited time. i understand their many factors contribute. my question is a huge amount of new resources we provided is being used to address this spike? >> the transit agencies have access to their formula dollars and they are applying those dollars in all programs including safety and if you're looking for a specific ip happy to provide you with the numbers. >> i would appreciate it if you would. i'd like to know first of all the fta isn't backtrackingnu the amount of money that's being her dangerous subway systems less dangerous and how much that is. it's also mymy understanding in most cities fare evasion is a fine and cracking down on it reduces the incidence of criminal activity in the subway systems. does fta collect data? >> the national transportation association does not collect information but does collect the information on how much of the fair ratio with the operating budget for each of the agencies and what it cost how much is generated by fares. >> thank you acknowledged there's a correlation between, high correlation between fare evasion and a criminal activity. >> there is aa correlation and there are many factors that affect it. >> but this is not this one. people are choosing not to pay their fare and they are breaking the law and not shockingly some of them want to break other laws because they are after all our lawbreakers. evasion is an important violation of the law that fta should be tracking and they don't track it. >> senator toomey we have do not track the fare evasion. transit agencies have fare gates andnc we collect their affairs n a different manner. the information is provided to us we have the sources of funds. >> okay. let'sfo go into the topic of the capitol investment grants. last years and for structure lower choirs transit agencies make progress on their deferred maintenance of their transit systems in order to be eligible to receive a cit grant and the ideas to help protect federal taxpayers and make sure the funds are not being on large capitol projects and transit agencies are. my concern is the new interim guidance of fta is put out makes a mockery of this requirement from the statue. therefore categories of assets in which they are art deferred maintenance backlogs. here in trim guidance allows the transit agency to make no progress whatsoever in effect we go on three out of the four. on the fourth which is rolling stock their 26 different types of rolling stock assets and under your interim guidance and agency can beof losing ground on deferred maintenance on 25 of the 26 as long as they are making some progress on onee of them. that qualifies them for this progress requirement. this does not seem like a faithful i