Problems and potentials of federal transit operating subsidies. Paper presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington, January 1975.

The problems caused by increasing escalation of transit subsidies in the face of long-term trends that are worsening transit finances are addressed and attention is paid on two issues (a) the relationship between changes in the level of federal subsidy funding and the financial condition of the transit industry; and (b) the question of why the transit industry is incurring deficits. It is emphasized that a long-run federal operating subsidy program should concentrate on understanding and controlling the transit deficit.