[applause] do solemnlyidano swear that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and to the governments established in the united states, and in this state. under the authority of the people. and that i will faithfully, , and justly perform all the duties of the office of lieutenant governor according to

the best of my ability, so help me god. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the 55th governor of the state of new jersey, governor chris christie. [applause] >> thank you. thank you.

bank you. thank you very much. thank you. lieutenant governor redondo,

sweeney,esident speaker panetta, republican leaders cain and brenna, all the former governors, members of the supreme court, members of our congressional delegation, members of the new jersey state legislature, family and friends, people ofe again, the new jersey have given me the opportunity to serve. [applause] and i thank each and every citizen for that honor. and once again, i have taken an oath where i have sworn to the peace and prosperity along great citizens, and both it is, a long one. byis an oath i have lived

for the last four years, and it is the oath i will live by for every day i am privileged to call myself your governor. [applause] the oath, though, is just a symbol of the bond that we have created with each other over the last four years. endured the worst economic recession of our lifetimes, and we have begun to triumph over it. entrenchedfronted i interests and their stream of money that have repeatedly stood in the way of fiscal sanity for our state and educational excellence for our children. together, we have pushed those our children'sut interests first. we have survived the worst natural disaster in our state's history and we have worked together to restore, renew and rebuild the state that we love.

[applause] each of these challenges have been met by a new unified force in public life, by new jersey for the entiree nation, a tough new jersey, a resilient new jersey, a proud new jersey. [applause] a new jersey that has put aside political partisanship on the important issues to our people to take advantage of the opportunities each of these challenges has presented us with jersey that has brought pride to our people and leadership to our nation. finally, this past november, new jersey has had the chance to decide if the bonds we have formed were strong enough to endure the heat of today's

political campaigns. would our elections confirm that had -- saide set had arrived on the stage for years ago truly had been beneficial for all of our citizens? because you see, elections are more about tv ads, debates and rallies. cast -- each vote cast ,s an act of faith and trust faith in the strength of the bonds we have built, trust in the hope that tomorrow will a better future for our people, better education for our children and a better day for all citizens. [applause] now the people have definitively set the course for the next four years. they have affirmed the decision to take on the big

problems. they have validated the idea that our answers to our problems must be bold. they have rewarded the principle that we must tell the truth about the depths of our challenges and the difficulty of real solutions. just some of our people who affirmed this course. it was not a vocal plurality like four years ago. the largestt was and loudest voice of affirmation that the people of our state had given to any direction in three decades. [applause] suburbanites and city dwellers, african-americans and latinos, women and men, doctors and teachers, factory workers and tradesmen, republicans and and independence,

together, they have demanded that we stay the course. the course they have helped set. to stand up for what is right. [applause] to fight the fights worth fighting, and most of all, to to make government work for each and every one of those voices of affirmation, for each and every one of our people . you see, the people of this state know that the only way forward is if we are all willing to take on what is politically unpopular, if we are willing to in the sacrifice, if we are all willing to be in this together. we have no more option, in my view, but to heed the voice of the voters, and that is exactly

what i intend to do. [applause] today, i thank all of those who have once again placed their faith and trust in me and i make this promise. i will not let up. i will insist we work together, and i will make this government truly work for those who pay for it. you see, i do not believe that new jersey is one of the bigger -- that new jersey wants a bigger, more expensive penalizes that success and gives opportunity to a few. they want an equal chance at the starting line, not a government guaranteed result. why?

because through hard work and being rewarded for that hard they know that they are part of their own success. we should make sure that creates policies that reward the effort and talent of everyday people, not in the almighty power to fix every problem, real or imagined. different than our neighbors. let's put more money in the pockets of our middle-class i not taking it out of their pockets in the first place. -- by not taking it out of their pockets in the first place. [applause] one of the lessons i have learned most acutely over the last four years is that new jersey cannot really be one state.

this election has taught us that the way we divide each other, by race, class, ethnicity, wealth and political party is neither permanent nor necessary. you see, our dreams are the same, a good job, a great education for our children, safe streets in our neighborhood and core values which give lives real meaning. those dreams are not unique to any one group in our state, and while government has a role in ensuring the opportunity to accomplish these streams, -- these dreams, we have now learned that we have an even bigger role to play as individual citizens. we have to be willing to play outside the red and blue boxes that the media pundits put it -- put us in. we have to be willing to reach out to others who look or speak differently to us. we have to be willing to reach out a helping hand to a neighbor

or a friend suffering from drug or theon or depression, dignity stripping loss of a job. new jersey came together as one community when it mattered most, and now we must stay together. people of every background and , and ourthe government people, to help our fellow citizens reach their dreams. there are times when we need to get along to just get things done because as joe carter said just this morning at the new baptist church, all of us may be one minute away from our miracle. -- one yes away from our own

miracle. that is true for our state and our nation. one yes away from our own miracle. person, is that every no matter what challenge they are facing in their lives, must believe that they have inside of them all of the god-given ability to be happy, and they will not believe that if all they hear from us is that life is unfair and that only government can fix that unfairness. they must first believe that self worth comes from inside each of god's beings. [applause] government cannot solve every one of these problems. government can only be one part of the solution. the unity our people have felt in the last year plus as we have confronted tragedy and challenge

must be a unity that we build on to give every person a chance to reach their dreams. those dreams begin for everyone with a growing economy. growth will not happen by following the path our neighbors seemed to prefer to pursue. for those that are for government redistribution and , i have this to say. come to new jersey. you will be welcome here. in addition to a growing economy, here is how our government, our government, our government will lead the effort to create opportunity in new jersey. we will make it a priority to

have every child in new jersey get a good education, no matter what it all you have to offend, where you came from, what sacred cow we must slay, how we have to change the conventional thinking, we will no longer stand for the achievement gap that exists between our best and least educated children. [applause] this government, our government, we will end the failed war on drugs that believes incarceration is the cure for every drug abuse. we will make treatment available to nonviolent offenders when we can and we will partner with our thisens to emphasize truth. every life has value and no life is disposable.

[applause] this government, our government, we will fight to continue to change so that we value our differences and we honor the strength of our diversity, because we cannot fall victim to the attitude of washington, d.c., the attitude that says i am always right and you're always wrong, the attitude that puts everyone into a box that ,hey are not permitted to leave the attitude that puts political victories ahead of policy agreements, the belief that compromise is a dirty word. we saw in december regarding the dream act, we can put the future of our state ahead of the partisans who would rather demonize them compromise -- van

compromise.- than as your governor, i will always be willing to listen as long as ends with usng being willing to compromise for the people who sent us to do our job. the end, i see, in have had no greater honor in my life and having twice been elected -- than having twice been elected to be the governor of the state where i was born and raised. with that honor come solemn obligations to make hard decisions, to raise uncomfortable topics, to require responsibility and accountability, to be willing to when principals are being violated, and to be willing to compromise to find common ground with all of our people.

, night andry day day, to make new jersey all it can be. in short, to be the governor. [applause] ians, wellow new jersey a started this journey together at a dark time when hope was at a premium and had been squandered by a government unwilling to tell you the truth. today, we enter the final leg of our journey together with more hope than we have had in years and with the trust that comes from partners who have shared with each other the hard truths that come from decisive

action. we are at the dawn of the new age of pride and growth in our state and its people. let us move forward with the strength that comes from the belief that we have in each other. i believe in you, new jersey, and i always, always well. -- will. [applause] it is only fitting that in this administration, with more hurricanes, snowstorms, flooding and disaster of the natural sword than of any administration i can remember in my lifetime -- sort than of any administration i can remember in my lifetime, that we begin the second term in the same way. [laughter]

[applause] so, to the folks who could not quite make it down the new jersey turnpike to be with us this morning, i understand. ,o the hardy souls who are here i endve my thanks, and by saying what comes directly from my heart. god bless you. god bless america. and god bless the great state of new jersey. [applause]

>> good afternoon. my name is sarah christie, and it is my pleasure to introduce sister patricia to deliver the benediction. sister pat is my principal. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome sister pat. [applause] >> thank you, sister. >> thank you, sara. heavenly father, today we celebrate and commemorate another chapter in the history of new jersey. we acknowledge your sovereignty ,ver our lives and our nation

and our state. help us to remember that freedom does not perpetuate itself, that we as a society have to work at nurture it, protected, and pray for it. help us to renew our loyalty to this great state. empower us to rededicate ourselves in faith to you and to one another. from the beginning of time, you preserved us as a people and helped us emerge as a nation and continue to lead us in numerous and wondrous ways. make us reverent in the use of the exercise of power, and generous and the protection of weakness. inspire and bless all who have elected and invited to

lead. we especially pray for our governor chris christie. we are grateful for the steadfast service rendered to the people of new jersey. continue to give him the wisdom necessary for the work at hand, fortitude encourage for the challenges that lie ahead -- and courage for the challenges that lie ahead. protect and bless all who serve with him. in jeremiah, we read, "for i know the plans i have for you, declares the lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." the prophet isaiah reminds us that those who hope in the lord will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles. growwill run and not career weary. they will walk and not be faint. loving father, as we conclude

today's ceremony and move forward with hope, we pray, may strength of god sustain us, the power of god preserve us, the hands of god protect us, the ways of god direct us, and may the love of god be with us this day and forever amen. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i am andrew christie. on behalf of my family, i would like to thank all of you for coming this afternoon. once again, i would like to congratulate the lieutenant governor and my father on their respective reelections. [applause] for again, thank you all

coming and this inauguration ceremony is now adjourned. [applause] ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> governor chris christie inaugurated for a second term as governor of the state of new jersey, live here from trenton. of course, he has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate. lots of reaction on twitter. dan tweets, why does the stillican establishment believe moderates are more electable despite all evidence to the contrary? dorothy says i know many teachers and most, if not all, did not vote for governor christie. marianne, back to presidential

politics. same old politics, she writes. get rid of a politician by slamming him so liberals won't have any competition. you'll will find all that and more on c-span.

>> governor chris christie, first elected in 2009, reelected for a second term in november of 2013 and here inaugurated for that second term. we are covering a number of state of the state addresses. look for our coverage plan is c- span.org. some news for louisiana. the governor's race won't happen until 2015, but news today that senator david vetter plans to run for that office. he would be able to run for governor without forfeiting his current senate seat. in a statement obtained by the "iociated risk, he said, believe that as our next governor i can have a bigger impact addressing the challenges and opportunities we face in louisiana."

bobby jindal is unable to run due to term limits. so, david bitter planning to run in 2015. prepared? yes, i did. first of all, i wasn't elected, so it didn't make that much difference. thed notice, though, difference between being the vice president's wife and the president's wife is huge, because the vice president's wife can say anything, nobody cares. the minute you say one thing as the president's wife you have made the news. that was a lesson i had to learn. quickly. >> watch our program on first lady barbara bush on our website, or see it saturday on c-span. our series continues with first lady hillary clinton. >> last week, federal transit administration head peter rogoff

testified in front of the senate banking committee on the future of public transportation programs. the fundd an update on that serves transportation programs through the fiscal year. this is about an hour and a half. >> this hearing will come to order. banking committee seeks to review how public transportation in the federal -- and the federal programs that assist our nations transit providers have advanced since the current transportation law was enacted in 2012. this committee worked well , and i look forward to continuing our bipartisan work

on public transportation issues. public transportation is vital in rural areas just as it is in large cities. our transit systems connect workers with employers, keep cars off congested roads, and get people where they are going safety -- safely and affordably. a recent law made many important changes to federal transit programs. 21 provided authority to the federal transit administration to institute a much-needed national framework for safety , including the emergency transit relief program that is helping new york and new jersey transit agencies recover

from superstorm sandy. to 83vided new funds tribes across the nation to help reliablever safe and transit services to one of the segments of the u.s. population. our focus today will be on the , but wetation of map 21 cannot overlook the highway trust fund. it is expected to reach the end of map 21 on september 30 with only a very small positive balance and could face a shortfall by late december. without congressional action, both funds will be unable to support current levels after 21 expires.

federal transportation investment this year and beyond depends on the stability of the trust fund. the committee will be working with the environment and public works, commerce and finance committees in the coming months for 21,ce legislation reviewmust first progress under the current law. today, we will hear directly from the fta on how they have implemented map 21, and we look forward to hearing details about their strategies to improve practices while minimizing any new administrative costs, and rurally to small transit providers. we will also hear about changes to protect development and

structures. finally, we will examine issues such as the need for coordination at the local level. turn to senator corker for his opening statement. >> thank you. passed of 2012, congress and president obama signed into law the moving ahead for progress in the 21st century act, known as map 21. since the enactment of this legislation, the federal transit administration has been working to implement its transit provision.

this point, programs are authorized for only another eight and a half months. some of the provisions that are of interest to me, map 21 in publicew authority safety. while public transit is one of of most safe modes transportation, i look forward to news of progress in public safety. i also want to hear how fta is addressing this issue. it is important that new rules be tailored in a way that is not unduly or disproportionately burdened some to smaller systems, especially as rural transit has a good safety record. rural transit provides vitally

important transportation services. they facilitate transportation for the elderly and persons with disabilities, and low income individuals to jobs. if new regulations are burdensome, it will be harder for regulators to provide services. map 21 also aids in understanding the public transportation systems. public transportation simply cannot be captured with a one- size-fits-all approach. there are many different types of transit systems, and a great deal of diversity with respect to the needs of each system. i look forward to hearing how fta plans to implement these systems. the level of detail providers , il be read choir to provide hope will not be excessive. for some, reporting on the age and mileage of the vehicle could be enough.

iserstanding where the fta when we consider the reauthorization later this year. i understand that short-term extensions do not provide the security a longer-term authorization can, however, as federal dollars are collected for transportation and have expenditures,ur it is no secret that the next step is how to refinance our transportation needs going forward. this includes finding a meaningful fix to the current and serious inadequacies of the highway trust fund. map 21, a bill with just over two years of authorization, was of payd using 10 years of forwards. we must be very careful with respect to what we do with this in the future. i thank you for your attention to this issue. >> thank you. are there any other members who would like to give a brief

opening statement or submit a statement? >> mr. chairman, i would like to submit a statement for the record that echoes your questions about adequate funding. thank you. >> i would like to remind my colleagues that the record will be open for the next seven days for additional statements. now i would like to introduce our witnesses. is theogoff administrator of the federal transit administration. david wise is the director of physical infrastructure issues at the government accountability office. i would like to -- i look forward to the testimony of both witnesses. proceed withlease your testimony.

>> thank you, chairman johnson, members of the committee. thank you for this opportunity to discuss the progress in implementing the map 21 law. across the united states, track toidership is on million riders in a row. suburbs areies and asking for more transit, not less. they are spending less money on gasoline and less time in traffic. at the state and local level, citizens are voting to tax themselves to provide new transit services in their cities. this is a game changer that puts the fta on the road to delivering transit better and more efficiently in communities nationwide. it has been called a two-year authorization bill that contains seven years of policy changes, and i think that is about right.

not since the and action of the ice-t law in 1991 have there been such profound and substandard changes to our transportation policies. have been 13 separate reports to congress. at the fta we have enacted a timetable to implement the law. while much work remains, there has been significant progress. that is in spite of the sequester and a furlough that kept us from working for months. let me begin with safety. i think this committee for working in such a bipartisan way to provide fta with the tools the administration requested to establish minimum common sense safety efforts. we have reached out to state soety oversight agencies that they understand what is

necessary to enforce safety guidelines freely without conflict of interest. while we were not required by map 21 to combine these toolmaking's, we did so quite deliberately to send a clear signal to our stakeholders that keeping a transit system is safe as possible goes hand-in-hand with adequately maintaining physical assets. the transit industry faces and $86 billion backlog in infrastructure needs and we are under investing that need by about $2.5 billion a year. when it comes to the safety 21, we fullymap recognize that a one-size-fits- all approach will not work. the needs of the new york subway system are going to be significantly different than those that will improve the bus system in topeka, kansas. we are focused on adding value and keeping a safe industry safe.

we are reject ing approaches that just focus on cost. as it relates to our new small star program, since 2009, fta has initiated new agreements. 100% of the projects on this list were on-time and on budget. under map 21, we have continued to cut red tape and streamline the program. he just recently introduced a new software tool enabling communities to reduce from two years to two weeks the time to develop ridership forecast. communities as much as a million dollars. because of the constraint on time, we have obviously made huge progress on the emergency relief program. this committee authorized the new emergency relief program as requested in our budget just in ase for hurricane sandy, but i have already testified to this committee at length about hurricane sandy, i am going to

save that part of my testimony for later. i do want to put out a word of warning consistent with what the chairman said as it relates to the balances of the highway trust fund. at the time map 21 was enacted, the trust fund was thought to be sufficient to last through the end of this fiscal year. as i sit here today, i cannot be sure this will be the case. we have very similar worries for our colleagues at the federal highway administration whose account is also rapidly approaching insolvency. on revenueing assumptions and the president's budget. just yesterday, secretary fox announced his plan to post on the dot website the monthly updates that will show all of america how soon our trust funds will start bouncing checks to our highway departments and transit agencies. i look forward to working with this committee as we strive to make a better future a reality and work to shore up our trust

funds. this concludes my testimony and i will be happy to answer any questions you have at a later time. >> thank you. >> chairman johnson, ranking member crapo and members of the committee, i am pleased to be here today to report on transportation issues. passengers use transit on a daily basis and many of these agencies receive federal funding. the federal government plays a key role in public transportation. addressp 21 did not some concerns, it did address strengthening federal authority over transit safety, emphasizing restoring aging in the structure , consolidating some programs and grants and streamlining delivery. my statement today describes recent work on three transit related issues, addressing long- term funding challenges,

andoving decision-making coordinating transit services among various federal and state or local agencies. federal funds available for the transit programs come from two sources, the general fund and the highway trust fund. both of these sources faced challenges. , a significant funding challenges the declining revenue of the highway trust fund. revenues of the fund have eroded over time in part because federal tax rates have not risen since 1990 three and impart because of fuel efficiency. that toestimated maintain current spending levels between 2015-2022, the fund will billions of dollars more

than it is expected to take in. congress has transferred more than 50 billion dollars in general revenue to the fund since 2008. this approach may not be sustainable given impeding demands and the federal government's growing fiscal challenges. for this reason, funding transportation remind -- remains on the high-risk list. 21's requirements to transit agencies to use asset management are consistent with our analyses. for example, our 2013 report recognized that many public agencies struggle to maintain buses that need repair. transit agencies would benefit from estimating the effects of those investment decisions. of the nine transit agencies we visited, only to measure the .ffects of capital

none measure the effects on future ridership. they lack the tools to measure those effects. we recommended fta conduct additional research to help transit agencies measure the effects of capital investments, including the impact on ridership. to expand or improve transportation, fta may use funding from the small starts program. transit agencies can seek to improve service and encourage economic element at a cost relatively less than rail. infound that the median cost 25 rail projects re-examined from october, 2005-february, 2012 for about $36 million and 500 million dollars respectively. while many factors may contribute to economic development, officials in thatland ohio told us millions of dollars had been for her rail near the

hospital corridor, at about one third the cost of comparable projects. in a report on transportation services for disadvantaged appellations, we found 80 different programs in eight agencies fund services related to medical, employment and other human services. we conclude that federal leadership could improve the coordination of transportation services among state and local providers. some progress in enhancing coordination for this population. according to officials, as a result of map 21, the agency has been up aiding program guidance and distributing circulars. fta continues to support those programs that play an important role in providing funds, offering services directly or through private and public

providers. this concludes my statement. i would be pleased to answer any questions at this time. >> thank you all for your testimony. as we begin questions, i will ask the clerk to put five minutes on the clock for each member. fall, fta asked for extensive input from the public transportation industry on the new transit safety and asset management framework. the committee has heard from providers the requirements for safety and asset management should be closely tailored to their size assistuld be allowed to all rural bus systems with reporting. how is fta utilizing feedback from providers to ensure that new safety and asset management

framework will not take resources away from delivering transit service? mr. chairman. we share the concern on the risk or pitfall, if you will, of stumbling into a regime where we are adding a bunch of iraq or see that just distracts operators from their core mission that we are calling on them to do, and that is moved people. we have been careful and crafted a number of questions on our end to solicit that template, and we are currently digesting hundreds of comments that we have gotten from all sectors of the industry , but we are keenly aware that we gain nothing by creating a big paper tiger here that does not add value. if we do this right, the transit operators at the local level, large and especially small, will see the value that comes from

these reporting requirements and reflecting on their safety profile. it is worth remembering that in the initial transit safety legislation that the obama administration submitted to this committee, we had planned to focus on rail exclusively at the beginning. that is still our focus. another wayes went in terms of doing a broad brush approach that captures both the rail industry as well as the bus only operators, but we certainly to the taylor that capabilities of those operators. importantly, a lot of our work in this area is going to be guided by our safety advisory a formal, which is advisory committee set up by secretary lahood. we are now going in the wake of map 21 to recruit more bus only operators onto the committee as we go forward. we are not going to do that in

some fact yam in washington. as someone who puts forward taxpayer dollars in large percentages, we have no desire to see those distracted into bureaucracy and not into service. >> a question for david wise and peter rogoff, gao has reported court difficulty in meeting transportation for .isadvantaged individuals could you both offer slots -- thoughts on why coordination is , and what are the next steps, particularly for

?edicaid >> thank you. we share the view that coordination is a difficult challenge. we had two recommendations to federal transit in this area. one of them is that the department of transportation and coordinating council that was set up to coordinate services between agencies and programs address this recommendation by issuing a strategic plan. that has happened. we feel that fta has made some this area.ss in it is a very difficult progress -- problem to deal with, especially in rural states like

idaho because people are scattered over very large areas. we had discussions with native american tribes about how difficult it is to try to arrange these kinds of things because the agencies you mentioned in your opening statement are very under resourced. they have maybe a couple of people working in them, and the distances are vast. weather conditions are harsh. are some real challenges in doing this, which makes the issue of coordination all the more important all throughout the country. >> i would add to that, it is a problem. coordination has been identified as a problem at the federal level for some time, and it is

getting better. we certainly have room to improve. courte an successful in mating the ability of managers to bring people together. getelps to ensure that we the maximum value out of all of the taxpayer-funded and in fact charitably funded vehicles available. we still have a problem with stovepipe rules that agency by agency. medicaid is sort of the big dog in the room in terms of the dollars they put into it, but obviously, they have very strict rules to ensure that the dollars only go to the hospital visit and cannot go to shopping or to church. we need to figure out a way to continue to improve on levels of coordination. you asked why this is such a problem. we need to recognize that there

are local social service agencies, state action councils on aging. have multiple different players here, different dollars, .ifferent rules especially as the rural community becomes more elderly, we need to do a better job of tearing away the stovepipes. >> it is evident that you and i both come from very rural states because you just used up a couple of my questions. i will get into them in a little more i will get to them in a little bit more detail. i'm aware that you are aware of the applications in rural communities on a one size fits all regulation intended to be focused on a large system. but i just want to be very clear, am i understanding you

to say that as you move forward for final rules that there is the capacity for a distinction so that we don't -- so that we won't face the fact that our small rural operations will have to face the same regulatory requirements in terms of scope that the larger operations will? >> you have my assurance on that, sir. and as i said, it would be foolish to do otherwise. you pointed out yourself, we have operators that run with very few people, relatively few vehicles and are as a result, relatively efficient in the services that they provide. and we -- you know, we definitely are coming at this, if it's not broken, don't fix it approach. e do look at this from a , how

are we going to add value? and we're going to be advised those very small and medium sized operators to be sure why we do it. and we started by asking these questions rather than take a first draft at regulatory requirements because we really need to gather the data and get their take on where they think we can add value. >> all right, thank you. and you also in your answers ot into the issue of basically the decisionmaking on what priorities will be implemented first. i think you stated that rail would be exclusively focused on at the outset, but that we were going to get into moving forward with the remainder of map 21 implementation. and i guess my question is how do you prioritize the remainder of the implementation requirements and how and in what order are you proceeding? >> sure. let me be clear what i was

saying about safety. because of the risk, and we want to take all of this, bring a risk-based approach to all of our works on safety. the administration put forward a bill that focused principally on rail because that's where the greatest risk is. and while the legislation goes in a somewhat different direction involving safety plans from everybody, we will still be putting the majority of our focus on the risk in high-speed rail accidents. and in right-of-way worker fatalities and things like that. as it relates to prioritizing regulatory products at large across all of map 21, we started first with the regulatory rules that would apply to the biggest sums of money and the largest number of passengers in what would be sort of, if you will, the most substantive policy changes. we did a lot of it through the instructions in our apportionment notice and our guidance, because in order to

put the 2013 money to work under the new rules, we didn't really have time to go through a long regulatory process. but for the multimill program for the country we wanted to make sure went out in the map 21 rules and we had dozens of web are thats with the transit agency in order to put this to work. some of the transit authorities that won't apply to either large chunks of money or a large number of operators have had to wait so that we can, if you will, capture as much of the thrust of map 21 in the earlier period as we can. >> thank you. and mr. wise, in the discussion that you had with the chairman, have a discussion about the coordination issues and g.a. orment's report highlighted the fact the total spending on services for

transportation for disadvantaged populations remains unknown because federal departments did not separately track spending for roughly 2/3 of the programs as identified by g.a.o. why is this the case and why is there such a problem in tracking this spending? >> thank you, senator, for the question. the problem really lies in that these agencies, transportation major -- it's not the component of what they do. so as a result, some of these costs get mixed in with other programs and they just don't -- their accounting systems are not set up in a way you can extract these costs separately and get a good handle on what it's costing them for transportation. just as an example, the department of health and human services scommade program will reimburse states that provides medicare beneficiaries with bus options to access available medical services. it's not clearly delineated within their accounting system so we're not able to get a full

handle on exactly how much is being spent for transportation but it's a significant amount and i think as i think as mr. rogoff pointed out in his testimony, as the population continues to age, these things will become more important in terms of their budgetary impact. >> thank you. mr. chairman, i do have some more questions but will submit them for the record. >> senator reid. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. first, mr. wise, let me commend you and your colleagues for your always thoughtful and careful analysis and this is no exception today. and peter rogoff is someone i had the privilege of working with on the appropriations committee and then the federal transit administrators you've mr. fox erb job that is acting and i think he made a wise judgment and is demonstrating his very effective leadership already, so i commend the secretary, also. just two basic questions. mr. rogoff, can you give us

some ideas of the impacts if we do not move in a timely fashion to restore funding in the mass transit account and what's going to happen and when is it going to start happening? >> we've always come at this, i shouldn't say "always" but in recent years we've determined roughly the appropriate balance that we need to maintain in the transit account of the trust fund is $1 billion, on the highway side it's about $4 billion for the highway account. and both the federal highway administration and the federal transit administration have plans on file on how we would manage cash in the event of balances falling below that level. within the federal transit administration, it involves sometimes reimbursing a lower percentage on the dollar, so someone is ready for reimbursement for 100% of an expenditure already made, and we may only be in a position to reimburse them for 90% or 80%. another approach may involve for those that can handle the

float, holding bills until the time we have cash in our coffers. my concern, and i know the secretary's concern, is not what will happen when we actually reach that point, but what happens in the months leading up to that point when it becomes quite clear that we are heading to a place where we will not be able to guarantee full reimbursement and what does it mean for either the state highway commissioners or the transit agencies that need to make capital investment decisions right in the heart of the construction season? and what dampening effect will that have on keeping people to work, putting new people to work, and also making the improvements that are highway drivers and transit users need which is why he is sounding the alarm as he is, making this information available on our website and starting this dialogue now rather than

waiting for the spring and summer to have it. >> i think that's very appropriate. and i think, you know, in addition to what you laid out there, probably secondary and tertiary effects, one, service interruptions as they try to cut the travel costs by cutting back in operations, effects on bond ratings in terms of their ability to go to the market and fund projects in addition to the money you can't provide, they might not be able to raise the adequate resources. so this has a really significant cascading effect. i think that should be noted. >> unquestionably, senator. and i think it's important to note, some people remember the days when our agency was called the urban mass transit administration. and still somehow think of our program as an urban program. the reality is this, if we had an interruption on or availability to reimburse transit agencies, the larger transit agencies, the new

yorks, the philadelphias, the chicagos, the miamis, san francisco, certainly, it will work a hardship but they also have adequate funds from other sources to continue to maintain operations. look at the other side of the spectrum, our medium size and rural operators, the federal dollar is anywhere up from 60% to 80% of the enterprise, both on the capital side and operating side. and if we're not able to reimburse them in a prompt fashion, that's where we're at risk of seeing services close their doors. >> there's another reality i think we have to come to grips with is that the essence of the highway trust fund, the funding mechanism, is the gasoline tax, as i understand it. >> it has been but has covered less and less of the total bill in recent years. >> and the good news is it's going to be less and less and less because the detroit auto show this week, every car is very efficient, pickup trucks are getting lots of mileage they didn't before. but that's -- we're going to have to look for alternative

funding mechanisms, frankly. i think you would concur? >> most recently, the president has spoken about the opportunities as corporate tax reform to look at a way to reinvest in our infrastructure, recognizing in part the cash tax returns are less and less for each gallon purchased based on the observations you made that we using less an less gasoline consistent with our goals to reduce our dependence on oil. >> just a final point. when this program was launched under president eisenhower, it was sort of a win-win-win, building highways, transit systems, you know, was supported by industry because it helped sell automobiles, it was supported by the petroleum industry because it helped sell gas, etc. but the president was wise enough to say we're going to pay for it. and we're going to be able to expand and we can't contemplate america without the road systems that began in the

eisenhower administration. the productivity, our lifestyle. and we're at a point now where if we don't move quickly and thoughtfully, we could just begin to slowly or not so slowly unravel our productivity, our lifestyle, you know, our ability to function. thank you very much, gentlemen. >> senator, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank both of you for being here today. i come from rural state, too. so i have a couple questions relative to that. but i did want to follow up on where senator reid -- senator reed was headed. mr. rogoff, not asking you to state a policy position on a preferable way to finance this area in the future, but i would be curious to know just in your mind, what options might be

available for congress to look at? and again, i'm not asking you to state a preferred course. >> well, there's a wide universe of options, senator, as i mentioned earlier, the one the president's discussed most recently is the opportunity that corporate tax reform could present to deal with our infrastructure challenge. i'd direct you, also, to a lot of measures that have been taken in the states recently, whether it's pennsylvania, wyoming, virginia, a variety of mixes of taxes, user fees, done on a bipartisan basis. in the case of pennsylvania, done by our republican statehouse state senate and governor to restore their trust funds that includes a mix of the taxes, taxing oil at rack, moving to excise taxes in lieu of per gallon taxes, doing

a variety of measures, as well options unique revenue that may be specific to that state. there is a wide university out there. but clearly, we need to do something and need to do something soon considering the deadlines we're facing. >> let me, if i might, focus on a couple of issues that would be more rural in nature. i've talked to transit people back in nebraska. these would be systems that are somewhat rural, but having said that, they exist, also, in the larger metropolitan areas in the state. and they have some questions about the safety requirements . map 21 and f.t.a. initial f.t.a. language suggests that each subrecipient entity would be required to have a trained safety officer.

according to people back home, there's also an indication that the state department of transportation would be required to employ state safety officers who would be responsible for statewide safety oversight. of course there's costs to that that drains money away from other areas. this is a significant issue and it seems like there's some degree of overlap and duplication there. i'm assuming there won't be additional funding, although if there is, i would appreciate you telling me that. but what's your thoughts on these requirements, and i would like to hear your thoughts on any resources that might be available to folks back home to deal with this burden. >> sure. a couple of thoughts, senator. first, we have not leveled a hard and fast requirement to anyone to date. what we have done is put out

for notice and comment by the public, concepts through an arpm and have taken all those responses back. i'm sure we received many from rural areas, and we'll be taking those to heart as we move forward with the regulatory regime. i don't want to leave the impression that there's any hard and fast new requirement. indeed, there are resources available for some of this, and that was one of the breakthroughs of the new safety regime passed by this committee that for at least the state safety organizations, there's some $22 million to be allocated for those. those are principally in the rail area. but even at the state d.o.t.'s, i've spoken to the state transportation commissioners numbers of times about this. they have the opportunity to draw for administrative expenses a percentage of the formula dollars we send to the state. many of them do not draw down the maximum percentage. and in some ways that's a good thing because it puts more of that money in direct service at

the local level. the flip side is that if there's not adequate state oversight of the dollars, then we have challenges of making sure that those dollars are spent according to law and regulation. we end up having to go in as a result of inspector general and things like that. so i've actually encouraged a number of the states to take a look at whether they should draw, not lots, but additional administrative dollars to do a better job at the state d.o.t. level. what many of them tell me is that they have a hiring freeze at the state level. and the way that hiring freeze is sometimes imposed at the state level is without regard whether it's federal dollars or state dollars which hampers their ability to go their work force even on someone else's dime. >> ok. i'll circle back around, and if there's additional questions or concerns, can we reach out to you to -- >> absolutely. and if it's helpful for us to have a conference call with your nebraska operators, we'd love to do it. >> ok. great.

>> let me just say parenthetically, sir, you are a rural state but you're also now a railcar producing state. >> yep, for sure. >> we just went and celebrated the arrival of the new washington metro cars, one of the largest railcar purchases in the united states history, all manufactured in lincoln, nebraska. very good story. >> very proud of that. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> senator warden? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to ask you about another part of map 21. as you know, it aims to bring transit assets, the equipment, facilities, and so on into a good state of repair. the law requires that the f.t.a. create objective standards for measuring product towards that goal and once the standards are in place the law requires the recipients of federal funds to develop plans for executing on those standards. now, the f.t.a. was supposed to issue objective standards by

october 1 of 2013. and hasn't done so yet. and the delay has put the massachusetts department of transportation in a tight spot. it's working on an asset management plan, doing the responsible thing, but it's reluctant to do too much planning because it still doesn't know what the f.t.a.'s objective standards will be. so, mr. rogoff, when will the f.t.a. issue a final rule on asset management standards? >> as it relates to a final rule, i will get you a target date. it may well be here in my book but let me just speak more broadly to your observation. transit asset management was a new and welcomed addition to map 21. as i said in my opening statement, we've been hampered somewhat on the resource front, trying to figure out what priorities to put the staff on most urgently. transit asset management is a

very high profile for us and we did just put out the anprm for them to comment on. just as i said on the safety front, we want to take industry comments so we don't come up with some kind of one-size-fits-all very rigid approach. we started with an arprm to get the industry's input on this. i'll be honest, senator, i'm in fairly constant contact with beverly scott who was in town yesterday at the nbta. we're working on many fronts to try to advance things there. they've not voiced that concern to me. obviously, things -- what we're most critically interested in there is, as you well know, governor patrick and the legislature succeeded in leveraging new dollars for a transportation investment in the commonwealth and we want to make sure they put them to work on the most critical transit

infrastructure needs on the t which there are many, the red line especially, but many others. and we'll be working with them, you know, bev scott is a real leader in this industry, having done turns in rhode island, in marta in atlanta, in california, and i -- we will be looking to her to help inform our approach on how transit asset management can work for big legacy systems like the t. >> i appreciate that and i particularly appreciate your working on the safety standards on the red line. i only live a few blocks from the red line and we use it. so i'm grateful for that, but i really do want to emphasize, there's a deadline built in. it was supposed to have been october 1, which means all of the question about pulling in all of the outside, you've got to plan against a deadline. so i just am hopeful we get this done quickly. i know that you are committed to improving the equipment and making sure we meet the highest safety standards. i know that's also true for the

nbta. so thank you. but i am really going to keep a thumb in your back on this one. >> that's fine. i welcome it. i think importantly, i want to be careful in how i phrase this, we have a number of statutory deadlines. i'm not sure they were workable and reasonable when they were put in in the first place and take them as strong indications on the committee on the priority they put against us. also as you heard, they want us to get industry input before we start writing rules and we need to strike that balance. >> fair enough. if i can, i want to ask you about one other thing, and that is, broadly speaking, congress can distribute highway and transit money in two ways. it can distribute money through a formula which spells out exactly how a particular state and local agency will receive money. or it can leave the distribution of the money at the discretion of the department of transportation. and then provide grants to different state and local agencies based on a competitive

process. historically in transportation funding bills, congress has distributed about 80% of the money through formulas and about 20% as a discretionary matter. but in map 21, the number went up to 92% through formula, leaving you with very little discretionary money so we saw a real move away from discretionary spending. mr. rogoff, i have to ask briefly because i'm running out of time here, do you think the decrease in discretionary funding has hurt the f.t.a.'s ability to fund worthwhile projects? >> well, i think it's a little too early to tell that but i can speak to the problems that have surfaced for the absence of those discretionary dollars. over three years, we were very the bus l in competing discretionary dollars we have for bus operators, not only just bus-only operators but

larger systems that do bus and rail operations. we put out over $2.5 billion in those three years and they were done without earmarks and done strictly on a merit-based system. and we felt like we did a very good job. the reduction in -- especially on the bus operator side, the loss of discretionary dollars and turning some of those dollars, not all of those dollars, and that has been a source of considerable concern by the bus-only operators who took a financial hit in their view through map 21, the loss of the discretionary money has meant that when they have large single investments, like it's time to replace a sizable part of their butt fleet or a new maintenance facility, they do not get a sufficient flow of formula dollars to be able to cobble together enough money to make that significant sizable investment and that's what the discretionary program was for.

and that may be something this committee wants to look at a new as they do re-authorization again. >> thank you very much because we all want to see the money spent in the most effective way and whether that means a little more discretion for the agency may accomplish that is something we certainly should be taking a look at. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator? >> yes, thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank both members for their testimonies today. it's -- the rural aspect has been mentioned several times and so i'm going to mention it, too. very quickly, when it comes to the national public transportation safety plan, i think the key is making sure we don't have a one size fits all and making sure you're getting input from rural transit systems. all i need is a commitment from you to continue to do that. >> absolutely. >> that's it. good enough. i want to talk about tribal transit programs.

you mentioned this in your testimony. i think congress has made some significant investments in tribal transit through map 21. they've doubled some funds available for the tribal transit program. they continue to build transportation infrastructure on tribal land. it's very important to whether it's for health care, education, economic opportunity, whatever it might be, beyond the investments made in map 21, it's critical tribes continue to receive technical assistance and support from the f.t.a. to grow and establish transit systems. you've done some outreach on f.t.a. this fall and i look forward to learning about future efforts. i just need to have you show your perspective, your thoughts on the success of the f.t.a.'s outreach so far in tribal america and what the f.t.a. intends to do to continue to build on success. >> well, mr. tester, the tribal

program was effectively doubled under map 21. >> correct. >> however, the -- we moved from a $15 million -- sort of follows up on what senator warren was saying, we moved from a $15 million discretionary program to a $30 million program of which $25 million was by formula and only $5 million was discretionary. this left us with the charge of developing a fair formula that we could put out on the tribes. i'll be honest, most of the outreach of recent with the tribal community has been around building that formula and informing them what amount of money they could expect. capacity building in tribal transit is absolutely critical. we spend a great deal of time trying to work with the tribes to make them to be eligible grantees to spend the dollars the right way, especially given the critical mobility needs that is absolutely a lifeline to the opportunities for employment for many of those tribes. so we are doing more. and we expect to do more in the

future once we sort of nail down the funding stream they can expect through this formula. we are concerned, quite frankly, one of the outgrowths of the formula are the payments that spit out from that formula are quite low. so while they are -- tribes are sort of given a guaranteed level of assistance, it may not be as sufficient sum to really do something meaningful in terms of launching and supporting the service on an ongoing basis which may again be something your committee wants to look at going forward. but absolutely, we want to make sure the dollars we're putting out there are spent wisely. i think we will have a new challenge. when we had all these dollars on a discretionary basis, frankly, we could make a judgment call to whether an individual tribe was ready to receive and put these funds to good use. now that we are distributing them all by formula, we'll certainly work to ensure that's the case, but we must put that money against them because they

are entitled to it by formula while we work to get them to that place, and that's going to be an added challenge. >> thank you. you answered my second question with that answer so i want to thank you very much. i just think you get it. the tribal infrastructure is critically important. poverty is rampant in rural tribes at least and we need to figure out ways to lift them out of poverty and i think this infrastructure is a part of it. >> absolutely. >> you, according to senator reed, are up for undersecretary for policy. >> i'll be moved the end of next week to be the under for secretary of policy, yes, sir. >> i don't want you to think it is a confirmation hearing in that regard. but i do want to know, in terms of policy, what toll roads will be playing in the future of the highway administration? >> that's a very uncontroversial question. thanks for it. >> i'm only here to help. >> senator, i feel comfortable answering this as the federal

transit administrator because tolling has been an important source of funding for a number of transit expansions. there is a rich debate that we are going to need to have as a nation over the issue of the that toll payers have paid for the road once and should not have to pay again. other argument being the maintenance and upkeep not coved over the life of the structure. importantly, polls are clearly part of the mix and somewhat consistent with the answer i gave to senator johans. we need to look at every available revenue opportunity and look at the fairness issues

and also what revenues they may present to us in terms of solid mistress fun problem. >> other argument being the maintenance and upkeep of that tollroad requires more and continued investment, which the toll payers have thanks for tha. really important from my perspective, being a part of the legislative branch in this business, that we have the debate before you in at the policy. i just think that is really important. >> there are rules in terms of what is permissible -- >> i got you, but just so you know, if the department gets out in front in advocating, that is a problem. for some on the committee, they may think it is a good idea, too. >> what i meant by that, senator, was that there are federal statutory rules that limit the department cost discretion in this area. if something were going to be done on the tolling front, we would need to have a dialogue with congress, which we would

have anyway, even if we had the authority ourselves. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your testimony. ofome from a rural state west virginia, and we rely on mass transit and bus transportation, and also train transportation, with the eastern panhandle. hopefully, you will all be attentive to that. with that being said, recently are heard from a number of transit authorities in my state, that the distribution of grant dollars from the fta has slowed down significantly. can you identify any specific causes for the increase of delay , on the verge of our first budget, may that help some? >> it would help to know which pots of money they are referring to. i am not familiar with the dynamic other than that which

you decided. cited. we have to await the final appropriation before we look at the budget. >> this is in the past. that all ofld me them have been having long delays in any grant money whatsoever. we will get with you, sir, after this. >> there have been years when we have gotten a cr for a longer period of time. some of them stretch into march and april, in the most recent year. therefore, we did a partial apportionment of funds. indid not do that this year the hopes and expectations, once the budget deal was announced, we would get a budget in january. it looks like we will be, which means we will be getting an apportionment notice shortly. thank you. nationally, 53% of other

transportation is by bus. only 10% of the money goes to bus transportation. do you think that is a proportionate, proper mix? that, youu look at also have to be cognizant of where the costs are. there are considerably lower costs to run a bus system, versus operating a rail system. as i stated in my open statement, we are investing nationally in the bus and rail -- >> it does not seem disproportionate there? not want to be baited into a formula fight, senator, but i take your point. i have often reminded people, as i did yesterday, with the very point that you made. more than half of transit trips in america are still taken by bus. >> maybe we can have those

people come to a meeting at a future time if that would be more helpful to us. if i can go on to this, transportation fuel. when i was the governor of the state of west virginia, we were looking at different ways to maximize our fuel efficiency and take advantage of what we have in our country. with the abundance of natural gas in our state and country right now, i thought you all can lead the charge on giving us the incentive to change to natural -as vehicles -- natural gas powered vehicles. the natural uptake of going from diesel to natural gas is expensive. unless they get that incentive. if you take that lead and we follow-up with our school transportation, school buses, every state could transform its traffical vehicular away from petroleum into natural

gas with you taking the lead on mass transit. we are doing it with public transportation with our schoolchildren, and then we follow-up with the state vehicles, road vehicles. it doeson i say that is not need to transform every utility or every infrastructure as far as gas station across the country. those are bulk stations. most companies can convert those if they get a contract. the only cost we have is that first uptick, going from natural gas powered. if you could look at it differently, we could reduce 25% of our dependence on petroleum. >> a couple of thoughts. first, the agency has historically leaned forward to her moan the development of natural gas buses. if you look across how we spend our research dollars, we have been on the cutting edge of it. now we're on to the next generation.

natural gas buses are very much embedded in the fleet right now. i believe every bus operating right now in the l.a. system is natural gas. there is added investment cost going in, but it clearly pays itself back over the 12 years of the life of the bus, including the life of the fueling structure. you had mentioned some other ideas on what we can do with school buses. we do not -- >> you set the tone. the federal government is setting the tone, if we all start looking at our mass transportation first, coming from the federal grants, and there was an incentive to convert, i assure you states would start falling. it gives them more of an interest -- impetus to do that. if 50 states were to do that, i am told we would reduce 25% of our dependency. basically all of these are done locally.

so county by county -- you can fill out a natural gas commercial vehicle and run all day. you do not have to worry about finding a filling station. it is the most doable thing we have to convert and remove about 25% of our dependence. we have had periodically in the program, percentage incentives, which is to say a lower local match in order to go with a cleaner fuel bus. i am not sure that was the most effective impetus to make it happen. part of it is whether we, as a matter of federal policy, will try to dictate those local decisions. that is something that i think the committee should debate. >> the only thing i am saying is instead of -- you are giving us x amount of dollars to buy a diesel bus. incentive is same

given to buy a natural gas bus. let's make the decision. --we do give them the same the vast majority of bus dollars or purchase are done by formula. we have had a separate discretionary -- it is converted to what is now called the low or no emissions gas bus program. we have had a clean fuel programmer we have bought a lot of natural gas buses, as well as the earliest generation of electric buses. those incentives have been there and i believe we have made those vehicles commercially viable through those grants, building the critical mass to make the manufacturers go into that space. if west virginia wanted to buy a natural gas bus and use their dollars for that, versus a diesel bus, they are both eligible expenses, and we do not blink either way. >> i am way over my time.

i would like to work with you on this. we can lead the charge here. >> there is also an opportunity to sit with the energy department when we do that. those issues you talked about, conversion of school buses, stations. sector will come in and do those conversions with no cost to the taxpayer. they will have a 10-year return, which we can work out. >> look forward to it. imed told senator schumer is on his way. senator menendez, take your time. happy to hear that, mr. chairman. statement i have been included in the record. first, let me say i welcome my colleague from west virginia's interest in mass transit.

we need an advocate as someone who is a leader of the fight here on mass transit and all its iterations. we can use all the help we can get because it is constantly a challenge. that is why i appreciate hearing it. it is a challenge to understand the funding in our mass transit formula. we are still nowhere near where whether iting to be, is light rail or bus. i just want to compliment you, a very goodr, for job in the midst of a lot of challenges. i appreciate your approach to the whole effort nationally on mass transit. in that regard, let me say, in map-21, i were to create a transit oriented pilot program to provide grants for communities to create mixed-use walkable developments and federally supported transit lines.

i sent a letter to fta this december with seven of my colleagues, including three on this committee, schumer, warner, hagan, asking for this program to be expedited. to date, the fta has not made an announcement of funds for this program, authorized and $10 million in fy 13 and 14. given the short time frame of map-21, it is important to good the program under way so that we have results to evaluate. why has the fta not announce the availability of funding for this program, and what timeline do you have for making this announcement? >> we are well aware of the program and cognizant of the committee members interest, most notably yours, as a champion of the program. frankly, in our prioritization scheme, i was asked earlier when we were going to prioritize given all of the new requirements of map-21. as i said in my opening statement, map-21 four transit

was seven years of policy in a two-year built. we had to prioritize what we would take on and in what order. .o.d. relates to the t development program, we thought, not from our selfish responsibilities, but also for the opportunities or communities to come in and get two years of money and then compete. so we have a competition for the full $20 million, rather than 10 one year, 10 the next. we thought that would be efficient and increase the opportunities for diversity of players to come in at a more meaningful level of money. our goal is to start that process and get notices out door in the spring to compete in the summer. i apologize for the delay in getting this. we are stacked with a lot of other new map-21 safety requirements, which we very much welcome changes to the formula program, which we had to put out very rapidly. >> i appreciate that and i

realize what we did in map-21, working with the subcommittee chair, we put a lot of things in there. pilot extent we have a program and resources dedicated to it, but i hate to see is that the pilot program does not ever -- to fruition >> that will not happen. it should be a matter of time. >> next is, the fda recently announced the next round of sandy transit funding. $3 billion or resiliency efforts. according to your announcement, this funding is intended to protect public infrastructure that has been repaired or .ebuilt after hurricane sandy it also goes on to state that in transitversity mode when making these awards. my question is how high of a priority will fta place on protecting assets that were hardest hit by hurricane sandy?

how are you going to balance the considerations of geographic and model diversity, while protecting the areas most devastated by hurricane sandy? >> as i said before, at this table, in fact, our highest priority in allocating the funds will be protecting the existing transit infrastructure that serves millions of passengers each day he read those systems, those existing rail lines have flooded many times, in many cases. the infrastructure that had flooded with hurricane sandy had flooded just one year earlier with hurricane irene. the president, requesting this resiliency funding, is putting a strong priority on ensuring that the taxpayers will not, going forward, have to repay to restore the infrastructure a third or fourth time.

that will be a priority as we look at it. we will be looking carefully, and we have conferences set up with all of the likely applicants, to talk about looking at a conference of plan and seeing how they are going to protect the most vulnerable elements of the system, and look at it from the perspective of a system, which is to say, we are not very interested in an investment that will ensure that we have protected one portion of a rail line, if in fact we are just going to have some other port -- portion of the rail line also serving 80% of the same traffic washed out. that will not maintain mobility in the face of the next disaster. those will be our priorities going in. it is hard for me to say now, until we get all the applications in, how some of the other factors like geographic diversity will play out. out a goodhave put

notice that takes into account all of the critical factors that we need to look at, and when we get the applications in, we will have to stack them and make sure investments are cost beneficial. , capture the most critical infrastructure on both sides of the river, and also make sure that we are going the president commitment to ensuring we do not pay for a second or third or fourth time to restore it. >> as someone who led the fight with the sandy money to make sure the transportation elements were a part of it, i certainly believe the consequences of systems move large numbers of americans and who have a history of constant challenges, due to flooding or weather related issues, make a highest priority use, simply on the number of people being serviced and the reality we have had repetitive loss.

repetitiveto avoid loss or the taxpayers and maximize the number of americans using the transit system. while there are a host of challenges, i look forward to that being the reality. wise, we preference the bus rapid transit project. how do you see the role of the bart playing in the future of u.s. transit service? these projects often are more flexible, affordable options, but they lack some of the service characteristics and economic development potential of others. both of those, senator. thank you. in the work that we did for the committee several years ago on brt the results on that are promising, but there are constraints on as you mentioned. a bus is not a train. some people view it that way. that said, given the funding

environment we are in now, and will be for the foreseeable future, a lot of areas see brt as a good alternative and one that is much more feasible to implement than rail, which tends to be, as noted in my statement, much more expensive. that said, there are beingteristics of brt implemented that make it stand apart from regular buses. you will see in the system we visited, seattle, eugene, a few places, nicer, newer, more brightly painted buses, bus stops will be above the ground. places, nicer, newer,not peoplr money into a machine, but they have a ticket before hand. there are similarities to rail travel. the very sophisticated brt's -- not so much would you see here,

but probably the poster child for the best brt system in the whole world is in bogotá, colombia, where it looks very much like a train. the stations are very ornate, like nice rail stations. you do not see that here. the dedicated guideways are also kind of a mixed bag. there are some are they have more dedicated guideways than others. we visitedll, when the system in eugene, springfield, oregon, there were a couple of areas where it was impossible to get a dedicated guideway to the system because of the complicated intersection. we have seen some mixed results. as i noted, most of the people we talked to in a different systems see problems with brt. it is much less expensive and quicker to implement, but there have been some developing problems. the one in ohio, the official told us they see $5 billion

worth of development along that euclid avenue corridor, downtown, up to the cleveland clinic. in kansas city, another rather depressed area, not far from downtown kansas city, the system there has gotten some additional grants with the promise that the brt would help to spur development in that area. you will see a lot of development going on here in montgomery county, which is looking to implement a fairly extensive bus rapid transit along the interstate 270 corridor. a lot of jurisdictions are staying promise -- seeing promise in bus rapid transit. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr. wise. congratulations, mr. rogoff, on your congratulation. i know you are filling large shoes. your predecessor work for me for going on tonow is

become dot commissioner in new york city. i know that office well, my wife having served there. i know she will do a great job. glad you are there. i have a few questions. first, regarding capital grants under 5309. toer map-21, we try streamline and accelerate project delivery on new starts and small starts. i know that is working well. i congratulate you on that. i have a couple of specifics here in terms of brt. first, albany, our capital district transportation authority, is becoming a leader in brt. albany is growing, a lot of economic activity. they have three core cities, choi, schenectady, and albany. it is made -- it has a metropolitan area of more than a million people. not large enough for a subway

system, rail system, but was rapid transit, it is made for it to a t. i help them get a grant to plan their brt. they have been working with fta regional offices in new york, poised to apply for admission to the small starts program. they were already working well on this. they have a redline already from downtown albany to downtown schenectady. two more planned to troy and the u of albany. are you familiar with the plan at all? >> i have spoken with people at cvta. eased to hear that development. as it relates to this project and all of the adjusted new entrants to the new starts and small starts program, is the

conference agreement currently pending on the floor. , theill recall last year combination of continuing resolution and then the sequester below that, left funding for the new smart -- starts and small starts program at a place where we could not fulfill our existing obligation that we had already signed up. the appropriations bill currently before you, through and obligatedn of balances and new appropriations, gets us to our request level, which means we are back in the business of looking at new folks to admit. >> can i have your commitment that you will do your work with cdta and do what you can to see that it is been minted -- it is admitted to the program? >> we see no show stoppers of them coming and him not having a successful project. >> secondly, buffalo. they have experimented with different kinds of transit, particularly when main street was a flop.

we are helping them undo that. they, too, are made for this type of system. similar size, a little more than a million .5 people in the metropolitan area. want to study an extension of the buffalo transit system , an easternst suburb, where the university of buffalo is and the university of buffalo is in the medical corridor. again, can i have your commitment to get into the small starts program? >> we will look at their corridor. applications as they come in, but it is fair to say that the nfta is taking time to figure out what they want to do. mr. weiss wanted out some of the benefits we can really see when we do bus rapid transit the right way, which is to say, you do all of the full investments, unique stations, unique vehicles, level boarding, signal priority -- which means they

always had a great enlightenment they hit a signal. can move a number of people at an affordable cost compared to rail. >> any barriers there? >> there are some geometric earls you cannot always overcome . there are also great opportunities. i think whenever you connect a large employers like the university and the health center , those are the kinds of segments that we see great success in. gateway. want to go to as you know, new starts has been really helpful for the 2nd avenue subway and east side access, some of the largest programs in the country we have supported. now there is another project on the west and, the amtrak gateway program. is interested in

this. building two tunnels under the hudson river into manhattan. the current tunnel is 100 years old, not flood proof, at full capacity. is interested in it is not just a passenger rail project but a critical commuter project. new jersey runs two thirds of the trains of workers coming in from new jersey to manhattan. we had a fight with governor christie over that. they had federal funding. now we are going back at it as the need for tunnels is crucial. questions on the gateway program. first, do you agree it is a critical passenger rail and transit project? second, do you believe it could be a candidate for the new starts program? do you need legislative authority to admit gateway into the new starts program? >> let me take those in order. you correctly point out we have had a painful history in trying to get the necessary tunneling capacity under the hudson. in tunnels currently serving extraordinary number of passengers on the amtrak and new jersey transit side. tunnels over 100 years

old. essential that it is investment? somethingsolutely do about those. i believe we are approaching 110-year-old tunnels. they not only constrained capacity, but at some point, they will become a real safety risk. think about the of people that will result if we were to lose the capacity all of a sudden. could it be a candidate for the new starts program? yes, it could. but we would need is a local project sponsor to come forward and do the development work, and importantly,, with the necessary local match. your final question, do i need special legislation to help make that happen? we will take a round turn on that, but i do not think so. obviously, the entire program expires at the end of the year.

the question you may be alluding to is how do we deal with the neustar project for which amtrak is a participant? i do not know that i need new legislation for that. we have had amtrak do some necessary investments, even as part of the east side access. they are responsible for the herald interlocking, a large portion of the project. there may be a way of doing this without special legislation, but if it is needed, it will be called your attention. i do not think so on its face. >> could you get back to me in writing in a few days on that? >> sure. >> finally, the montague tunnel. we have a interest in restoring this tunnel. give me a status report on how the repairs are going? >> i understand things are going along well. this is one of the benefits you get from closing the entire facility. you do not have to worry about

the safety risks posed by the workers. you have the ability to put all kinds of equipment in the tunnel because you do not have to move trains. at the same time. i have heard nothing to the effect that they are on schedule or over budget. indeed, in some of these tunnels, we are making it through our local resiliency funding to just allow them to move utilities to the roof of the tunnel, so should we have flooding again, we will not lose all of the signaling and cabling capacity. >> i want to thank the witnesses for your testimony today. this hearing is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]