In Brief:
- Voters will decide whether to raise or extend sales taxes to support transportation infrastructure in at least 18 localities.
- Local sales taxes are dedicated, recurring funds that help cities build service and pull down federal grants.
- Voters usually, but not always, approve transportation sales-tax measures when they make it to the ballot.
The news has been pretty bad for public transit since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many commuters stopped riding buses and trains in 2020 and a big portion of them have not returned. Nationally, transit ridership is about 76 percent of pre-pandemic averages, up from a low of about 20 percent in early 2020.
The biggest transit systems have faced budget crises stemming from the loss of fares. Some have gotten significant new funding support from state governments. Others remain at the brink of disaster: budget cuts, service cuts, lower revenue and more service cuts. The cost of building new transportation infrastructure, already higher in the U.S. than many other countries, has also risen since the pandemic.
When voters are asked directly to pay more in taxes for improved transit service, they typically say yes. Voters approved nine out of 10 transportation funding measures proposed last year, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). They approved 87 out of 101 proposals in the three years prior. At least 18 transportation measures will be on local ballots in November, asking voters to pay more for buses, trains, trolleys, roads, bike lanes, traffic signals and sidewalks.
Here are a few of the biggest measures to watch.
New Rapid Bus Service in Columbus, Ohio
The levy, which would apply to residents in the city and parts of some surrounding counties, would add a half-cent to the local sales tax, bringing the share of the tax dedicated to transportation to 1 cent. The Central Ohio Transit Authority estimates the tax would raise about $480 million a year, according to reports, which would also help the city apply for federal grants that require matching funds.
Cities that want to expand transit are increasingly looking to buses rather than trains to do the job. While rail operates on dedicated track and can move much more quickly than buses in most cases, it can also be more expensive to build and operate. Proponents of bus rapid transit say it can do most of the same things as trains if it’s given a dedicated right of way and traffic signal priority on existing roads.
“It’s a trend overall,” says Art Guzzetti, a vice president at APTA. “The focus in recent years has been on the bus side.”
Infrastructure and Service Improvements in Nashville
Transportation funding referendums take years to plan, and sometimes they fail in spectacular fashion. Nashville last tried to pass a transit-funding referendum in 2018, with a proposal for five light rail lines and a tunnel underneath downtown. Voters rejected it overwhelmingly, partly out of a sense that it was too ambitious and partly because the mayor who had been its primary champion resigned amid a scandal.
With a new mayor, Freddie O’Connell, elected last year, the city is now proposing a different set of transportation improvements. O’Connell has pitched the Choose How You Move plan as a benefit to all of the city’s residents, including drivers. The plan would fund repairs to sidewalks and intersections, upgrades to traffic signals, and round-the-clock improvements to bus service. It also involves new transit centers and some high-capacity bus corridors, though exactly what features those corridors would include isn’t detailed. It would cost an estimated $3.1 billion to build, funded with a new half-cent sales tax.
“I feel like we really did dial in something that has something for everybody, at the most reasonable cost,” O’Connell told Governing earlier this year.
Extending Transit Funding in Phoenix
More than 60 percent of all Arizona residents live in Maricopa County, home to the fast-growing Phoenix metro area. For the past 40 years, residents have paid a half-cent sales tax to fund transportation infrastructure, including light rail and other public transit. The tax is set to expire next year. Voters will decide in November whether to extend the tax for 20 more years, raising an estimated $14.9 billion.
The proposal to extend the tax has faced opposition in the state Legislature. Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed legislation that would have permitted an earlier version of the proposal to go on the ballot, citing a general opposition to tax increases amid post-pandemic inflation. Some state legislators have also taken a strong stance against new rail service in Arizona in general. The current proposal would give a slightly larger share of the revenue to highways and road projects and a slightly smaller share to public transit. It would still manage to fund about 12 miles of new light rail and 28 miles of bus rapid transit, according to reports.
Sales Tax Extensions in South Carolina
Three localities in South Carolina will hold transportation-related ballot measures. The largest is Richland County, home to Columbia, the state capital. Voters will decide whether to extend an existing penny sales tax to raise up to $4.5 billion for county infrastructure projects, including transportation. Twenty-two percent of the revenue raised from the tax would be dedicated to The COMET, the county’s public transit system.
In Charleston County, voters will be asked to extend a half-cent sales tax primarily for roadway improvements, with an undetermined allocation for public transit. The county estimates it would raise up to $5.4 billion over 25 years. Beaufort County, which is home to Hilton Head Island, is proposing a sales tax extension to raise up to $900 million for transportation improvements. Mass transit projects would receive $80 million.
Building Transit Service in Atlanta Suburbs
Every proposal to raise funding for transportation projects has proponents and detractors. Supporters often include business associations, developers and transit advocates. Detractors often include taxpayers’ associations and conservative groups. One criticism of transportation-funding measures that has crossed ideological lines is that they don’t always deliver on the promise sold to voters in a timely way. Former lawmakers in Charleston, S.C., for example, have encouraged voters to reject the sales tax extension partly because only a few of the proposed projects have been completed under the existing tax.
Atlanta voters approved a plan to pay for new transit infrastructure in 2016, but in recent years, partly due to inflation, the transit system has drastically cut the number of projects it initially proposed. Atlanta’s suburbs have long been poorly served by public transit. But two suburban counties will vote on proposals to fund more transit service there this fall.
Gwinnett County will vote on a plan to raise up to $17 billion to fund an expansion of public transit service. The plan emphasizes microtransit, an on-demand transit service that functions similarly to Uber and Lyft, but with lower fares. The proposal also includes investments in bus rapid transit. It notably does not include the expansion of MARTA, Atlanta’s transit system, into Gwinnett County, or the creation of a rail service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Residents had previously rejected proposals in 2019 and 2020 that included MARTA expansions and heavy rail to the airport.
Cobb County, Ga., is also proposing a 1 cent sales tax to fund a similar package of projects, including microtransit expansion, a new transit center and bus rapid transit service. The county also has a history of rejecting MARTA expansions. And like other parts of the Atlanta region, it’s anticipating substantial population growth. Planners are hoping to provide mobility alternatives to personal vehicles.
“[Those counties] have historically had terrible transit access, if any,” says Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute. “It’s exciting to see transit become more of a part of the Atlanta region.”
