TRUST FUND: A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE

Transit's dedicated source of federal funding, the 1-cent share of the 5-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase of 1982, has been subjected to continuing pressures, but it is expected that the fund will continue. Administration limits have been applied to the transit share while the highway portion (8 cents per gallon total) is being expended at a rate that could exhaust the existing surplus in the Highway Trust Fund by 1989. Because of increased highway fuel consumption, transit funds are being accumulated at the rate of $1.5 billion annually, about $400 million above original estimates. Whatever amount was to be appropriated, it seemed inevitable it would be dwarfed by requests for construction of transit projects. The history of the Highway Trust Fund and its transit-aid component are outlined, followed by observations on prospects for the future of federal funding for new-start rail transit projects.