July 11, 2006
(Download in Adobe PDF format)
Dear Senator:
Days following the first anniversary of the despicable and horrific terrorist attacks on London's subway and bus system and on Madrid's commuter rail system a year earlier, and as reports come in about attacks on commuter railroads in Bombay, I write on behalf of the 1,500 member organizations of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) regarding the Fiscal Year 2007 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill. We strongly urge you to support increases in funds for public transportation security needs.
The events in Bombay, London and Madrid demonstrate once again that public transit riders are targets of terrorists and that much greater investment is clearly needed to increase the security of their daily commute. Further, last week's announcement that a terrorist attack on New York area transit systems was averted clearly underlines the importance of adequately providing security funding for the billions of Americans who ride public transportation each year.
Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the federal government has spent over $20 billion on aviation security and only $386 million for public transportation security.
For public transportation alone, APTA has identified more than $6 billion in security needs.
With 9.7 billion trips a year on public transportation, transit security is a very important issue for America's transit riders. Americans take public transportation 32 million times a day-16 times more than travel on domestic airlines. We need to take every action possible to avoid a terrorist attack on a U.S. transit system like the ones in Bombay, London and Madrid.
Two years ago, the Senate unanimously passed S.2884, which authorized $3.5 billion for transit security over three years. Again, we strongly urge the Senate to increase investment in our nation's public transportation security needs.
If you have any questions about these issues, please have your staff contact Tom Yedinak of APTA's Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4865 or email tyedinak@apta.com.
Sincerely yours,
William W. Millar
President
WWM/tjj
Some of these pages may include links to documents in the Adobe PDF format. Please download the Adobe PDF reader if you have not already done so.
