Americans are using public transportation in huge numbers, but the cost of maintaining public bus and rail systems is making it difficult to keep up with higher demand. The American Public Transportation Association reported that last year, Americans relied on public transit in the largest numbers in 50 years, taking over 10 million trips on the nation's public bus and rail systems. Public transit in cities around the country face budget cuts, meaning higher fares and shorter operation hours. San Francisco is looking at a shortfall of $200 million and with the state of California in the midst of a major budget crisis, lawmakers have been unable to come up with enough money to run public transit systems in the way that they have before. Later this year, Congress will consider legislation to fund the public transit that millions of Americans need to get to work. In this part of a series on infrastructure, correspondent Rick Carr looks at how the nation's public transit budget deficits are affecting San Francisco. Quotes "I spend about 60 hours a month commuting to and from work. I'm part of a trend. And this is why investments in public transit are important to people like me." - John Hillman, San Francisco Bay Area Commuter "Don't talk to us about job creation. Don't talk to us about economic rebound if you're going to cut public transit. You're simply going to shut off the nozzle that gets people to and from work." - Gavin Newsom Mayor of San Francisco "I won't sugarcoat it. We are going to be trying to put Band-Aids on a very expensive system that actually has more demands and more needs than it ever has, just to get through the next 18 months." - Mark Desaulnier, California State Senator Warm Up Questions 1. What is public transportation? How is it funded? 2. How often do you take public transportation? How often do your parents? What do you use it for? 3. How much does public transportation cost you? Do you think that the prices are fair? Discussion Questions 1. Why is public transportation so important to many Americans? 2. According to the American Public Transportation Association, more Americans are taking public transit in large numbers. Why do you think that is? 3. Do you think that it is important for the government to subsidize public transportation rather than raising prices? Why or why not? 4. What groups of people do you think would suffer most from budget cuts to public buses and trains? Why? Additional Resources Read the transcript