FTA official to counties: ‘Take my money’

The Federal Transit Administration has tens of billions of dollars available for local transportation projects, and a top agency official used his time before the NACo Board of Directors Sunday to make sure county leaders know how to claim their share.

“Please take my money — but it really is your money, and it’s your residents’ money,” Connor Torossian, FTA associate administrator for communications and congressional affairs, told the Board during the NACo Annual Conference. He urged counties to view the agency as a partner in building safe and reliable transportation networks.

Torossian outlined the priorities the FTA wants reflected in grant applications, beginning with safety. He said the department is pushing transit systems to crack down on fare evasion, which he described as both a drain on revenue and a gateway to more serious crime.

Worker safety is part of that focus. Since joining the FTA about eight months ago, Torossian said, the agency has examined systems with above-average assault rates against drivers and transit workers, with recent attention on Atlanta’s MARTA and ongoing work in Chicago on the CTA.

He also described a push for “family-friendly” transit — clean, reliable service that parents feel safe using with their children. To help riders judge their local systems, he previewed a new data tool the FTA plans to unveil this week. Drawn from the National Transit Database, it will let users look up their transit agency and compare it with similar-sized systems on assaults and other measures. The goal, he said, is both to inform the public and to pressure underperforming systems to improve.

A third priority he called “turning the dirt” — moving funded projects into construction quickly. Torossian said the department is cutting paperwork and reducing regulatory hurdles, acknowledging that many counties lack large grant-writing staffs. “You know your systems better than anyone in Washington,” he said.

Innovation rounded out his list. He pointed to AI technology layered onto existing camera systems as a low-cost way to flag crimes as they occur and speed police response — something he said he had seen improve safety in demonstrations.

Torossian, who said he first learned about NACo while working on Capitol Hill for former Rep. Marc Molinaro (a former Dutchess County, N.Y. executive),  told the board the agency expects to announce a bus grant funding opportunity of more than $600 million this week. “If you want a bus, let me know,” he said, offering to meet with officials and walk them through applications.

He closed by framing transit investment as a way to help counties “move your county forward.”

“When a resident has a problem, whether it’s a flooded road or a business that’s struggling, they don’t look to Washington,” he said. “They look to you.”