Quigley, Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Discuss Public Transportation Safety

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg about federal support for local transportation departments who are seeking to improve safety on public transportation. Quigley's questions came during a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development on the FY 2023 budget request for the Department of Transportation.

Video of Quigley's questioning is available HERE.

A transcript of the discussion is provided below:

QUIGLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again Mr. Secretary, I know it's a long day

Coming back from COVID, and we still have issues, but, we're talking about getting people back into transit programs and the resistance there. One of the issues in Chicago at play we're understanding across the country is the issue of crime.

Part of it stems from sort of a chicken and egg, which comes first. There are people who have reservations getting into transit systems that have not a lot of people on the train or the bus--they feel less secure. And it blocks people from wanting to get on because they don't see anybody there, but to get more people on, they have to be more secure. You know has DOT started talking about or are their assets and assistance we can provide to help transit agencies address these concerns?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, certainly both, the reality and the perception of state are very important for public confidence in transit. We know that this has been a concern raised by a number of transit agencies.

There are some delineations of authority between what's appropriate for us to work on versus law enforcement or other entities, but we certainly welcome any opportunities we can provide that could be helpful here. And one thing I would point to is the hard infrastructure around anything from the design of an entrance to a subway stop, to the lighting around a bus shelter--could play a role in safety even if it is funded with other considerations in mind as well.

Ultimately, density of ridership tends to contribute to both the perception and the reality of safety. And so that's going to be an ongoing journey of course, as we work to see transit ridership recover from its COVID depths.

So the last thing I'll mention though, a more general point about safety that I think is one I missed, which is that if you look at the statistics on the number of roadway fatalities we experienced in ordinary car travel, a very high number that we're working aggressively to lower. By comparison, there's a much higher degree of safety per passenger mile associated with the use of transit.

I don't think it maybe works that way psychologically for us as commuters. But I do think that it bears mention that the more excellent transit options that we're providing the people feel confident and convenient, are convenient to take at least on today's patterns of roadway and transit safety--there's a safety benefit to be had there.

QUIGLEY: I know you mentioned lighting entrance design and so forth. If I might throw in the possibility of cameras, people's perception of that. I don't know if that falls in, but it's certainly something we're interested in. Any other barriers that you've seen and how we get back the density that you talked about besides crime issues?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, if you look overall at transit ridership rebounded to about 60% of pre pandemic levels which is considerably higher than it was in late summer and fall 2020, but that average as averages are, can be a little bit misleading. The recovery is actually been swifter in terms of bus usage and slower in terms of subway and train usage.

Now, some of that I think just reflects what's happening in terms of commuting patterns, but it's something that we want to watch carefully and integrate into our strategies for helping transit fully recover.

QUIGLEY: All right. Thank you so much.