DALLAS – The nearly $200 billion of transit-oriented tax proposals going to voters across the country in November could provide an important boost in infrastructure investments by cash-strapped operators, according to public transportation experts.
There are at least 30 local referendums on public transportation going before voters on Nov. 8, said Richard White, acting president of the American Public Transportation Association.
"With approximately $200 billion in funding for public transportation, this is a game changer for people and the communities they live in," White said during a conference call with reporters on Monday.
"We know we have an $86 billion transit maintenance backlog, and that's just what we need to bring our systems into a state of good repair," he said. "It doesn't include the revenues we need to expand transit systems to meet a growing demand."
The initiatives include a sales tax referendum in Los Angeles that could generate a total of $120 billion for road repair and other projects in that city, $53.8 billion for Seattle's 25-year transportation plan, and San Francisco's $3.5 billion general obligation bond request to fund Bay Area Rapid Transit projects.
"When people vote to improve or expand the local public transit system, they are voting for an improved quality of life and for the economic vitality of their region," White said.
Voters in 2015 approved 24 of the 34 public transit-related ballot initiatives, according to the Center for Transportation Excellence. The 34 transit proposals were the highest number of transportation ballot measures in an off-year election since 2001, the group said.
The 71% success rate of last year's transit proposals, most of which involved increases in dedicated sales or property taxes, was up slightly from 2014 elections.
Voters tend to approve transit tax proposals because they see buses and trains as alternatives to traffic-clogged highways, said Daniel Chatman, an associate professor of city and regional planning at the University of California at Berkeley.
"You have growing levels of congestion on the roads, which in turn bolsters political support for transit because it is seen as a problem-solver," Chatman said. "People have demonstrated they are willing to tax themselves because they want transportation choices. They don't want to be stuck in traffic congestion."
BART general manager Grace Crunican said the $3.5 billion of GO bond proceeds would fund infrastructure upgrades, including 90 miles of new track to replace rails laid in the 1970s, and to repair water damage to the existing underground system "It's as un-sexy of a measure as I've ever seen," she said during the conference call. "The system is aging and cannot support the 364,000 added jobs and 210,000 new homes the region expects within a half-mile of our stations by 2040 unless we reinvest in the BART system."
Local initiatives are needed because state and federal governments have failed to adequately fund public transportation, said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
"That money has been decreasing while the costs have been increasing," she said. "We can't wait for the state and the federal government to break through the partisan gridlock."
The Measure M proposal for a 0.5% sales tax increase being sought by Los Angeles' Metropolitan Transportation Authority in November would be a permanent levy. The increased tax is expected to generate $860 million per year.
L.A. Metro is also asking voters to make permanent an existing, dedicated 0.5% sales tax set to expire in 2039.
The transit agency said the extra bonding capacity from the new permanent 1% sales tax with no sunset would enable it to speed up construction of 12 projects.
Metro would distribute 17% of the additional sales tax revenue to cities for transportation investments, including road repairs.
