Transportation

Throwback Thursday: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Urban Mass Transportation Act into law 60 years ago this week

President Lyndon B. Johnson
June 19, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson on the outskirts of Concord at the groundbreaking of BART's 4.5 mile Diablo Test Track. The track would eventually become part of the Concord line.

Sixty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 creating the federal transit program. 

It marked the first time the federal government took on a major role in supporting transit bus and rail systems across the country.

"This is by any standard one of the most profoundly significant domestic measures to be enacted by the Congress during the 1960s," Johnson said while signing the bill on July 9, 1964. "Our Constitution empowered Congress to provide for post roads. Since that time, congressional support of transportation has been a major constructive influence on the progress and development of our American society and our American economy."

In those 60 years, the program, now managed by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), has reshaped transit in America, helping it evolve from scattered, poorly funded bus systems and a few big-city subways to light rail, commuter rail, bus and bus rapid transit, ferry systems, rural transit, and services for seniors and people with disabilities in thousands of communities. 

Today, FTA supports more than 3,500 transit agencies nationwide to ensure everyone can fully participate in their community, riding to work, school, healthcare appointments, and to see family and friends. 

The agency’s programs are helping modernize transit, alleviate the climate crisis, improve access, advance research and innovation, promote civil rights, provide safety oversight, and create jobs.

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