Cubic voices opposition to proposed cuts in pre-tax benefits for mass transit

Cubic Transportation Systems has voiced its opposition to the proposed cuts in pre-tax benefits for the Transit Benefit Program available to citizens who use public transportation. Within the Senate Finance Committee, Senators are considering reducing the pre-tax benefit to individuals using public transportation from its current US$245 per month to US$125 per month, close to a 50 per cent cut. Cubic believes it is in the Committee’s best interest to maintain the current transit benefit since promoting pub
August 8, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
378 Cubic Transportation Systems has voiced its opposition to the proposed cuts in pre-tax benefits for the Transit Benefit Program available to citizens who use public transportation.  Within the Senate Finance Committee, Senators are considering reducing the pre-tax benefit to individuals using public transportation from its current US$245 per month to US$125 per month, close to a 50 per cent cut.

Cubic believes it is in the Committee’s best interest to maintain the current transit benefit since promoting public transportation helps the consumer, the economy and the environment, stating that the 50 percent cut under US Senate works against the economy, energy independence and wage earners.

“Developing a legislative plan to review and streamline our current tax code is laudable and to be encouraged.  But to reduce the Transit Benefit program will discourage the millions of citizens and employees who use public transportation as a means of commuting to and from their place of business,” said Steve Shewmaker, president of Cubic Transportation Systems. “This works against our national interest to be energy independent, promote economic growth, reward wage earners and be pro-environment. Moreover, at a time when gasoline prices are at a record high and the U.S. trade balance so negatively impacted by oil imports, the last thing policy makers should be considering is legislation that discourages the use of public transit.  The government should be encouraging our citizens to take advantage of public transportation when and where it is accessible.”

“By financially penalising those who utilise – and often rely on – public transportation, it discourages ridership, prompting more individuals to drive personal vehicles, consume fossil fuels and significantly contribute to growing congestion and pollution of urban areas,” said Shewmaker.  He went on to say that not only would the benefit cuts impact riders but they would negatively affect the transit market as well. Public transit’s growth, accessibility and increased efficiencies for the consumer and transportation authorities are at the heart of the transit business.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Making the case for interstate tolling
    May 30, 2014
    A provision in the Grow America Act, introduced to Congress last month by Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, proposes lifting a decades-old ban on tolling existing interstate general purpose lanes. According Daniel Papiernik, HNTB Corporation's mid-Atlantic toll services leader, writing in Roll Call, recent opposition to the proposal is short-sighted. He claims that relying on revenues derived from the gas tax is simply an unsustainable way of funding the nation’s aging roads, bridges and tunnels
    Read More
  • Rapid growth makes Texas an incubator for tolling innovation
    September 8, 2014
    As the IBTTA’s annual meeting and exhibition heads for Austin, Mitchell Beer, president of Smarter Shift, considers the role of Texas in the development of tolling strategies and technology. The State of Texas has always prided itself on being ‘larger than life’. From the sprawling geography of the state itself with its wide open skies, to its entrepreneurial ‘get-it-done’ attitude, Texas exudes an impatient restlessness that pushes businesses and public agencies to deliver faster, better results. More ofte
    Read More
  • ATFI disputes toll survey findings
    September 15, 2014
    According to a recent poll by infrastructure group HNTB, 79 per cent of US residents would support "would support the addition of a toll on a non-tolled surface transportation facility if it resulted in a safer, congestion-free and more reliable trip." The poll also found 83 per cent of its respondents would also support tolls on highways that are currently free, which has been a source of contentious debate in Washington. HNTB Toll Services Chairman Jim Ely said the finding bolstered the argument o
    Read More
  • APA supports automated work zone speed enforcement
    July 17, 2015
    A trade association representing the highway construction industry strongly supports automated enforcement of speed limits in work zones and Maryland's experience with a similarly designed program has had very good results, the association head has told a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate committee. According to PennDOT, 24 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2014, eight more than in 2013. Additionally, there were 1,841 crashes in work zones last year, a slight decrease from the 1,851 crashes
    Read More

Highlighted Content