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Hello Rider,
If public transit is important to you, you can help prevent service cuts. Let lawmakers know House Bill 2025—the Transportation Reinvestment Package—will help save public transit in Oregon!
The Oregon transportation package calls for a 0.2% increase over the next five years in the employee payroll tax that funds transit. That will help Oregon public transit agencies continue providing service that tens of thousands of Oregonians depend on.
Inflation has increased the cost of providing public transit service by more than 50% in the last five years alone. If lawmakers do not pass the transportation package—with the 0.2% increase for transit funding in it—TriMet and other transit agencies will be forced to significantly cut service. Without this additional revenue from the transportation package, we would need to reduce our service by 27% by July 2027. That amounts to eliminating 45 of our current 79 bus lines.
Remember, public transit benefits everyone:
- It keeps people moving, from those who rely on the access it provides, to those who benefit from the reduced traffic congestion when others take the shared ride on a bus or train instead of driving.
- It gets people to jobs, education and services, helping our economy to thrive. In fact, every $1 invested in transit generates $5 for a local economy*.
- It employs thousands of Oregonians directly and supports hundreds of thousands more private sector jobs across the U.S. manufacturing parts and developing systems and technology to keep transit running.
- It reduces CO2 emissions and makes our air cleaner by taking cars off the road.
*American Public Transportation Association
If you want more funding for transit, you can submit written testimony today in support of House Bill 2025.
Testimony must be submitted by 4 p.m. this Friday, June 13. You can mark ‘Support’ as your “Position on Measure” if you want more funding for transit.
Here’s sample text that you can use in your testimony:
Support for HB 2025 – STIF funding
Dear Co-Chairs McLain and Gorsek and Members of the Committee,
I write today in support of the increased transit funding and the STIF program in HB 2025. The increased funding for the STIF program in this package will help prevent significant cuts to public transit service across Oregon.
- Share how you rely on and use transit
- Share the type of service you use and where
- Share what would happen if your transit service was taken away
While the funding proposed in this package is not enough to provide the additional transit service I would like to see, it will prevent Oregonians like me from being stranded without the transportation access I depend on. Please support HB 2025.
Sincerely,
Name
Location (e.g. Gresham, OR)
Thanks for your support. Your voice matters.
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