Why Are Tax Dollars Being Used to Promote Mass Transit?

Although the IBJ article is not available on-line without a subscription, the summary should outrage people:

The campaign to expand public transit in the region has generated a busload of money for some media and marketing outlets, thanks to $1 million in federal grants to advertise the benefits of mass transit. 

The article is a piece talking about how great it is that federal tax dollars are getting pumped into the local economy to promote mass transit.  Mentioned prominently are TV stations WTHR and WISH that combined have received nearly $100,000 of those tax dollars for pro-mass transit advertising.  I guess we won't see any critical pieces about mass transit on those stations.

Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with taxpayer dollars being used to lobby for a project that will require taxpayers to pay yet more.  It even more egregious that one side in this contentious public issue can tap into taxpayer money while the other side can't.

What happened to the sequester?  Apparently there is enough money left over to spend $1 million to promote mass transit in Indianapolis.