By Larry Penner, Mass Transit Magazine; July 9, 2020
July 2020 marks the 56th Anniversary of federal government support for public transportation. The success of public transportation can be traced back to one of the late President Lyndon Johnson’s greatest accomplishments which continues benefiting many Americans today. On July 9, 1964 he signed the “Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964” into law. Subsequently this has resulted in the investment over time of several hundred billion dollars into public transportation. Funding was provided under grants from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration which in 1991 became the Federal Transit Administration.