Finance: Transit

In 2004, $39.5 billion was available from all sources to finance transit capital investments and operations, compared with $36.5 billion in 2002. Transit funding comes from public funds allocated by Federal, State, and local governments and system-generated revenues earned by transit agencies from the provision of transit services. In 2004, Federal funds accounted for 18 percent of all transit revenue sources, State funds for 20 percent, local funds for 35 percent, and system-generated funds for 28 percent.

2004 Transit Revenue Sources (Billions of Dollars). Pie chart in four segments. Transit sources that are system generated account for 28.1 percent of transit revenue; federal sources account for 17.6 percent; state sources account for 19.7 percent; and local sources account for 34.6 percent.

Eighty percent of the Federal funds allocated to transit are from a dedicated portion of the Federal motor-fuel tax receipts, and 20 percent are from general revenues. Federal funding for transit increased from $6.3 billion in 2002 to $7.0 billion in 2004, and State and local funding increased from $20.3 billion in 2002 to $21.5 billion in 2004.

In 2004, $12.6 billion, or 32 percent of total available transit funds, was spent on capital investment. Federal capital funding was $4.9 billion, or 39 percent of total capital expenditures; State capital funding was $1.8 billion, or 14 percent of total capital expenditures; and local capital funding was $5.9 billion, or 47 percent of total capital expenditures. Between 2002 and 2004, Federal capital funding decreased by 1.3 percent and State and local capital funding increased by 5.4 percent.

In 2004, $4.0 billion or 32 percent of total capital expenditures was for guideway; $3.4 billion or 27 percent of the total was for rolling stock, $2.1 billion or 16 percent of the total was for systems, and $1.1 billion or 9 percent of the total was for stations.

Sources of Transit Capital Investment Funding, 2002 and 2004 (Billions of Dollars). Stacked bar chart comparing transit capital investment funding levels from three sources in 2002 and 2004. Federal investment accounted for 40.6 percent, state investment accounted for 11.7 percent, and local investment accounted for 47.8 percent of total funding in 2002. Federal investment accounted for 39.0 percent, state investment accounted for 13.9 percent, and local investment accounted for 47.1 percent of total funding in 2004.

In 2004, actual operating expenditures were $25.4 billion. Vehicle operating expenses were $13.4 billion, 53 percent of total operating expenses and 35 percent of total expenses; vehicle maintenance expenses were $5 billion, 20 percent of total operating expenses and 13 percent of total expenses; nonvehicle maintenance expenses were $2.7 billion, or 11 percent of total operating expenses and 7 percent of total expenses; and general administrative expenses were $4.2 billion, or 17 percent of total operating expenses and 11 percent of total expenses.

2004 Transit Operating Expenditures (Billions of Dollars). Pie chart in four segments. General administrative accounts for 17 percent of operating expenditures, nonvehicle maintenance accounts for 11 percent; vehicle maintenance accounts for 20 percent; and vehicle operating accounts for 53 percent.

In 2004, $26.9 billion was available for operating expenses, accounting for 68 percent of total available funds; the Federal government provided $2.0 billion or 8 percent of total operating expenses; State governments $6.0 billion or 22 percent of total operating expenses; local governments $7.9 billion or 29 percent of total operating expenses; and system-generated revenues $10.9 billion or 41 percent of total operating expenses.

Conditions and Performance

Finance: Transit