Mass Transit - 46

Q&A with Sec. Chao
fire and more - continue to get
safely to and from their critical
posts and ultimately help in our
economic recovery.
Our work continues and FTA
is working closely with transit
providers to provide resources
and rapid responses.
Safety has been a chief concern
during this pandemic - safety
of employees and safety of users on various transportation
modes - is there more that
should or could be done to ensure safety?

Improving safety is a never-ending quest at USDOT. Safety
is always our top priority. Instilling public trust and confidence
in the safety of our transportation systems will be critical in
our economic recovery. Airlines,
Amtrak, passenger rail and transit agencies have significantly
ramped up cleaning protocols.
Transit agencies, in particular,
have stepped up. Many are now
boarding passengers through the
back of the bus to protect operators, installing dividers between
drivers and passengers, improving disinfection procedures,
increasing cleaning regimes,
providing personal protective
equipment (PPE) to both operators and riders and enforcing social distancing requirements for
riders by adding capacity.
As mentioned earlier, at the
federal level, we've distributed
more than 100 million cloth facial coverings to America's transportation sector - including 14.4
million for mass transit, passenger rail workers and riders. More
than 2,200 transit agencies have
received a shipment of reusable
face coverings. Under the CARES
Act, funding is available to support
expenses like enhanced cleaning
measures and cleaning supplies,
maintenance, staff overtime and
hiring additional cleaning crews,
all to keep the traveling public safe.
But we also want to let Amer-

46 |

USDOT

SECRETARY CHAO
speaks at a 2017
Infrastructure
Week event
where USDOT
announced
its intention
to identify
and reduce
unnecessary
regulatory
obstacles.

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JULY/AUGUST 2020

icans know that they too have a
role to play. Passengers should
wear facial coverings and practice
social distancing when they can.
They should wash their hands
frequently and practice good hygiene. We're all in this together.
Efforts to stop the spread of
the coronavirus have justifiably
shifted priorities for everyone,
but USDOT was working on
several initiatives prior to the
arrival of the pandemic in the
U.S. Looking toward the second half of the year, do you anticipate being able to advance
non-pandemic initiatives?

Over the past few months, the
world's focus has, appropriately,
been on COVID-19. But our mission at USDOT remains ensuring
our nation has the safest and most
efficient transportation system in
the world. The department has
been able to move forward with
its normal workload, as well as
meet the challenges of COVID-19.
We have continued to press
ahead with substantial investments
in infrastructure. Under this administration, the department has
issued more than $20 billion in
discretionary grants to fund crit-

ical infrastructure projects across
the country. Under FTA's Capital
Investment Grants (CIG) program, the Trump Administration
has advanced funding for 35 new
CIG projects throughout the nation, totaling approximately $8.5
billion in funding commitments.
The department is working to
demystify and speed up the environmental permitting process,
such as simplifying the application process and implementing
One Federal Decision, as well as
enhancing the federal permitting
dashboard to improve data accuracy, accountability and usability.
We're also focused on reducing
red tape. To date, the USDOT has
saved the economy and consumers $90 billion in regulatory costs.
We'll continue to push forward
with these priorities front-andcenter, building upon the strong
foundation this administration
has created in our first term.
USDOT recently announced
the first participants in the Automated Vehicle Transparency
and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative. Why is
this the time to launch an AV
initiative and, more generally,

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