Passenger rail and bus advocates are pressing negotiators on the war supplemental spending bill to allow public transit agencies to spend some of their economic stimulus dollars on operating expenses, instead of capital improvements.

The Senate version of the big spending bill would let transit agencies use as much as 10 percent of their funding from the economic recovery law to fend off personnel and service cuts. Transit received $8.4 billion in the stimulus.

Rep. Peter A. DeFazio , D-Ore., sent a letter, signed by 26 other House members, to House appropriators urging them to take up the Senate language during conference.

“In order to maintain consistent and reliable service for riders, access to operations assistance in these tough economic times is crucial,” says the letter from DeFazio, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

Currently, areas with populations of more than 200,000 are prohibited from using their federal transit funding for operating costs. The Senate report language makes clear that the role of the federal government is to assist with capital investments in public transportation, and that the flexibility to spend federal dollars for operating costs would be limited to the stimulus money.

Many transit agencies are facing budget deficits that leave them unable to keep up with dramatic increases in ridership. As a result, service and personnel cuts are being proposed in cities across the country.

For example, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has a $176 million budget shortfall and is proposing service cuts, fare increases, and 292 employee layoffs, according to the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department.