Transit is essential. It’s how we get to health care appointments, parks, school, and work.

Essential workers, small businesses, and under-served communities throughout the country depend on transit. Transit is a key component of economic opportunity, jobs, and a more environmentally sustainable society — and it’s a road to equity for disconnected communities.

But from coast to coast — in big cities and in rural areas, in red and blue states — transit agencies are facing massive budget shortfalls and reducing service. And recent actions by the Trump administration — from Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy threatening to withhold key federal funding — will worsen a bad situation.

Transit is always essential. But that’s particularly true in times of great economic uncertainty, like we’re currently experiencing.

When people can count on the bus or train to get where they need to go, they can easily access jobs, education, medical care, culture, goods and services, and the daily life of their communities. They benefit from greater economic mobility and lower household costs.

Transportation systems that maximize people’s access to good transit are designed to be inclusive, without barriers linked to race, income, age, or ability. But for too many Americans, a lack of transportation can be a significant barrier to job opportunities.

Public transit serves as a lifeline to affordable, reliable access to workplaces. By ensuring a robust public transportation system, we can create pathways for workers to secure, stable jobs.

Transit is much more than just a means of getting from point A to point B. It’s a crucial tool for leveling the playing field for working families, ensuring they have the mobility, financial security, and opportunities necessary to thrive.

But Congress has underfunded transit for years. And this is particularly true when it comes to operations funds — which are key to helping agencies across the country solve their current budget shortfalls.

Recently, Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced legislation to fix this.

The legislation would create a new formula grant program available to all transit agencies, rural and urban, to increase service frequency so that people don’t have to wait so long for the bus. It would help agencies provide additional hours of service so those who don’t work white collar hours can still get to their jobs. And it would help add new, frequent service to under-served communities.

For decades, the federal government has supported air travel through air traffic control. It has supported shipping through investments in ports and the management of locks and dams in the inland waterways.

These are essential services for the movement of goods and people. And so is public transit. High quality transit is just as essential to get people to their jobs and to give businesses access to talent and customers.

Public transit across the country is in trouble. Congress needs to fix that. And that starts with investing in it, not defunding it.

This piece was first published on our sister site Otherwords.org.