Panel hears state transit funding has fallen as federal COVID aid ends

At a meeting of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the State and Local Transportation, committee members heard that Michigan’s long‑standing state assistance for local public transit is covering a smaller share of agencies’ operating costs as one‑time federal COVID relief funds expire.

The committee’s fiscal analyst, William (committee staff), told members that “the primary state fund source in support of these programs is the Comprehensive Transportation Fund,” which receives a 10 percent earmark from the Michigan Transportation Fund and an earmark of auto‑related sales tax to support public transportation.

That Comprehensive Transportation Fund, or CTF, and the Michigan Transportation Fund together generate roughly $400,000,000 a year for public transit and related programs, William said. The biggest single line items are transit capital (largely to match federal grants for buses and other equipment) and local bus operating (LBO) assistance. According to the fiscal overview, recent appropriations for LBO were about $201.7 million in fiscal 2023, $261.7 million in fiscal 2024 and $246.7 million in fiscal 2025; the fiscal 2024 figure included $45 million in federal COVID relief funds and fiscal 2025 included $20 million in federal COVID relief funds.

Jean Roosterman, Administrator of the Office of Passenger Transportation at the Michigan Department of Transportation, clarified how the CTF is split inside state government: “we do share that pot of money with the Office of Rail. So the CTF is shared between the two offices. It's about a sixty‑forty split between Office of Passenger Transportation, Office of Rail.”…