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    1. Bus

    Nearly $10 billion in New Local Transit Funding at Stake on Election Day

    Nov. 3, 2014
    Success rate for transit ballot measures stands at 78 percent for 2014 year to date.
    Related To: Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE)

    The Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE) is monitoring 27 transportation measures in 14 states that will go to the ballot on Election Day 2014. If all of the measures are approved, more than $9.7 billion in new local funding will be invested in transit projects like restoring bus service to Clayton County, Ga., expanding bus service in Las Cruces, Minn., and building new rail lines in Austin, Texas.

    Since 2000, Americans have had the chance to weigh in on more than 500 measures to raise additional revenue for transit in their communities, and 72 percent of those measures have passed through 2013. That trend has held steady so far, with voters approving 78 percent of the 33 measures that have already gone before them this year. CFTE will continue to monitor state and local ballot measures that include new transportation investments. Historically, the long-term success rate for transit investment measures is double that of other ballot measures in the county.

    Twenty of the measures to be voted on next week deal directly with finance, with measures in Alameda County, Calif., Alachua County, Fla., and Clayton County, Ga. as some of the most prominent . Voters in Clayton County will be asked to adopt a one cent sales tax to join the MARTA system, making this the first major expansion of MARTA since the original system was voted on 40 years ago. The sales tax would generate approximately $50 million a year to restore transit to the county since the C-Tran bus service was eliminated in March, 2010. Alameda County voters will have a second chance to approve a sales tax increase to a full penny to fund an $8 billion plan following the narrow defeat of Measure B in 2012. The revenue generated will go BART, bus service, ferries, and commuter trains, as well as $651 million for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Alachua County and the city of Gainesville also have a second chance at funding this year with a multimodal initiative that dedicates 40 percent of the city’s sales tax revenue to bus service after a roads-only measure failed in 2012.

    “Public transportation is essential for a region’s economic competitiveness and prosperity,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy.  “People should keep this in mind as they go to the polls on Election Day.”