Sponsors
The bill expands federal support for transportation demand management—improving rural mobility, lowering some household and employer travel costs, and easing congestion—at the trade‑off of diverting limited program dollars toward smaller TDM projects and operations (and potentially higher short‑term taxpayer and user costs), which may reduce funding for large capital projects and create political, procurement, and implementation challenges.
Rural residents gain more travel options and better access to jobs and services through new and expanded TDM grants and programs (carpool/vanpool, shared mobility, real‑time info, MaaS).
Households and employees (and small employers) can lower transportation costs via TDM strategies, commuter benefits, and reduced reliance on private vehicle ownership.
Commuters and the public can experience reduced congestion and faster trips because TDM projects (parking pricing, HOV/HOT lanes, micromobility, telecommuting support, small congestion projects) become fundable.
Taxpayers and larger infrastructure projects could lose funding because new TDM priorities and annual $20M set‑asides divert dollars away from road construction and major transit capital projects.
Federal spending and program costs may rise as grants expand eligible activities and new set‑asides are created, and some drivers may face new out‑of‑pocket costs if jurisdictions adopt parking pricing or tolling.
People with irregular hours, dispersed destinations, or strong transit dependency (often low‑income or rural residents) may not benefit from TDM alone and could be left underserved without additional rural transit investment; funding operations/salaries can shift costs to future budgets.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Adds a federal TDM definition, makes TDM eligible across multiple grant programs, and creates two $20M/year set‑asides for rural TDM and small congestion projects.
Introduced January 30, 2026 by Marilyn Strickland · Last progress January 30, 2026
Creates a federal definition of Transportation Demand Management (TDM), explicitly makes TDM an eligible activity across multiple multimodal federal grant programs, and establishes two dedicated $20 million annual set‑asides: one for rural TDM grants and one for small congestion‑relief projects. It also broadens eligibility for certain congestion relief grants by removing a population threshold so smaller urban areas and others can compete. The bill funds planning, implementation, marketing, operations, data and technology to support carpooling, vanpooling, micromobility, employer incentives, mobility hubs, trip‑planning/MaaS, telecommuting supports, parking management, and related activities — with specified eligible recipients including State/Local/Tribal governments, MPOs, transit agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Unused set‑aside funds are reallocated to other program grants each fiscal year.