New Report Reveals the Staggering Cost of Subsidizing Broken Public Transit and Amtrak

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a new report, “Subsidizing Decline: Why U.S. Transit and Passenger Rail Need Competition,” detailing how government ownership and open-ended taxpayer support have insulated public transportation from market discipline.

Transit agencies have received growing subsidies while ridership, labor productivity, and fare revenue have plummeted. Amtrak remains unprofitable after 55 years under federal ownership. Congress is nevertheless considering legislation that would authorize another $31 billion in grants for the national passenger railroad.

Obtaining subsidies has become a substitute for better performance. Public transportation providers face little financial consequence when projects exceed their budgets, labor costs grow untethered from either ridership or service quality, and riders abandon subpar service. Taxpayers are simply asked to cover the widening gap. The report argues that private competition could restore the cost discipline that government ownership has steadily eroded.

Among the figures examined in the report:

• Government at all levels spent $92.4 billion on public transit in fiscal year 2023 but recovered only $16.5 billion in revenue. Taxpayers covered the remaining $75.9 billion—a subsidy rate of 82 percent.
• Amtrak carried a record 34.5 million passengers in fiscal year 2025 and still reported a $1.9 billion operating loss. Federal and state taxpayer support amounted to approximately $148 per passenger trip beyond what riders paid in fares.
• New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent a record $1.5 billion on overtime in 2025. Hundreds of its employees collected six figures in overtime pay during the previous year.
• The median electric bus purchased by an American transit agency in 2024 cost roughly $1.1 million. Singapore recently purchased electric buses for about $333,000 each. “Buy America” mandates have restricted the supplier base available to U.S. agencies and helped make basic equipment needlessly expensive.  

Ross Marchand, Executive Director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, offered the following comment:

“For decades, public transportation has escaped market discipline that compels ordinary businesses to survive, thrive, and serve consumers. Ridership remains below 2019 levels, yet transit agencies employ more workers. Amtrak set a ridership record and still lost nearly $2 billion.

“Growing subsidies will surely become tomorrow’s spending baseline, while agencies return to taxpayers for still more money. Federal patronage has spared these systems from the market forces that every ordinary business must face. Congress should shut off this subsidy spigot and end the legal barriers holding back private operators.”

Read the full report below.

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.