US transit agency removes its own project evaluation criteria

The Federal Transit Administration just removed the official criteria it used to evaluate major public transit projects. This means the agency will no longer use a public, standardized method to decide which projects get federal funding.

For years, federal funding for major transit projects relied on a public appendix that detailed how projects would be measured. This appendix provided a consistent, if sometimes outdated, set of rules for cities and states applying for grants. Its removal means the process for evaluating projects is now less transparent, making it harder for applicants to know what the agency is looking for.