News release: “New data released by the Transportation Equity Network reveals that investment in public transit can create hundreds of thousands more jobs than highway projects. More Transit Equals More Jobs examines official project lists from 20 federally authorized Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and concludes that if [they] shifted 50 percent of their highway funds to transit, they would generate an additional 184,801 jobs over a five-year period without spending any more money.
“What would happen if 20 metropolitan areas shifted 50% of their highway funds to transit? They would generate 1,123,674 new transit jobs over a five-year period for a net gain of 180,150 jobs over five years without a single dollar of new spending…The report then goes on to project the potential job creation of a 50% shift in present highway spending to transit for each of the 20 metropolitan areas. The shift would create 1,123,674 new transit jobs over five years, for a net increase of 180,150 jobs all without a dollar of new spending…While the largest metropolitan areas stand to create the most total jobs, metropolitan areas that spend the least on public transportation would have the largest proportional job increases. For example, St. Louis, which only spends 15 percent of its TIP funds on public transportation, would enjoy a 259 percent increase in the number of transit jobsover 43,000 new jobs.
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