Nearly two years ago, the Federal Transit Administration released a report saying the transit industry has a $77 billion maintenance backlog. So why is the Associated Press making a big deal of this report now?
“Americans are turning to trains and buses to get around in greater numbers than ever before,” says the AP. “The aging trains and buses they’re riding, however, face an $80 billion maintenance backlog that jeopardizes service just when it’s most in demand.”
The article’s writer never critically examines the claim that Americans are riding transit “in greater numbers than ever before,” and it is flat-out wrong. The American Public Transportation Association’s latest ridership report says that Americans took 10.4 million transit trips in 2011.
