As 2021 comes to a close, the team at CFTE wishes you happy holidays!

This year has been challenging but fruitful for advocates of public transportation. Despite the pandemic’s nagging persistence, advocates scored major victories in Congress by passing the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, one of the largest single investments in transportation infrastructure in history.

These laws represent enormous achievements that will lead to better mobility options and cleaner, healthier cities. Kudos to all who helped make it happen!

Further, 11 state and local campaigns across the country won approval from voters to invest in public transit and brought public transit to its first perfect record year at the ballot box. Our local wins may have been more modest, but we’ll take a 1000% batting average any time!

Team CFTE is truly grateful to all our partners and colleagues across the country. They have poured themselves into the inexhaustible work of planning, strategizing, organizing, and executing the initiatives and campaigns that make our communities better.

As we head into 2022, COVID is still the lingering unknown. Cities that had previously postponed ballot measures are considering them again but unsure what the political atmosphere will bring, especially heading into a heated midterm election. That said, nothing is ever certain and the momentum ushered in from the two major national laws brings with it a wave of public attention and support that cities can build on.

Political analysis is an important part of the calculus, but there is one consistent thread in recent years: Public transit is popular. It’s our job to translate that popularity into wins.

For that reason, we are optimistic. 2022 is shaping up to be a big turnout year at the ballot box and communities are pushing forward innovative measures to fund their local systems.

CFTE is excited to tell you in the new year about some of the amazing campaigns we’re collaborating with and we look forward to working with more communities in the coming months. Please feel free to reach out if your community is thinking about a measure and would like to talk about how CFTE can help — you can also visit our website CFTE.org, which we update regularly.

Last but not least, CFTE will be announcing in January the dates and location of our Transportation Initiatives and Communities Workshop. We’re excited about it and hope you are, too.

Once again, happy holidays from the team at CFTE. We hope you have a safe and joyful holiday season.

Best,
Josh, Ian, and the CFTE Team