OR: Transit advocates rally at Oregon’s Capitol to support climate-friendly transportation initiatives

Around 100 public transit and environmental advocates descended on the Oregon State Capitol on Thursday to urge lawmakers to allocate more funding for public transit and other climate-friendly transportation initiatives around the state.

By giving more money to local transit providers and paying for more bike and pedestrian infrastructure, public transit advocates say, lawmakers can help more Oregonians save money on transportation costs while reducing congestion and car emissions.

“We’ve been ready for a transportation system that offers us real choices,” Indi Namkoong, transportation justice coordinator for environmental nonprofit Verde, told a crowd of advocates in front of the state Capitol. “We want the system to be safe, sustainable, well maintained and resilient to the challenges of the future.”

Most lawmakers say they support those goals. But environmental and public transit advocates are far from the only voices that lawmakers will consider as they work this session to craft a major transportation package and negotiate tax increases to better maintain Oregon’s roads.

Democratic lawmakers earlier this month unveiled a bevy of new and increased taxes they say are necessary to adequately fund a wide range of transportation-related programs. They proposed raising the state’s payroll tax, which funds public transportation programs, from 0.1% to 0.18%, to bring in an additional $286 million every two years. They also proposed raising the state’s bike tax to raise about $1 million every two years for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

The wide array of proposed taxes sparked pushback from Republican lawmakers and business groups, who say Oregonians shouldn’t pay higher taxes without more scrutiny of the state’s current spending.

However, the advocates who rallied at the Capitol on Thursday and transit officials have said those tax increases won’t go far enough in helping Oregonians access public transportation. The Oregon Transit Association has asked lawmakers to increase the payroll tax to 0.5% over eight years. Without that funding, they say, most transit providers across Oregon expect to face budget shortfalls.

“The loss of fare revenue and the increase in operating costs mean transit agencies will be forced to reduce service, eliminate hundreds of jobs and cut off transit access for tens of thousands of Oregonians who depend on it,” Jameson Auten, CEO of Lane Transit District, said in a press release.

Those concerns come from both major transportation districts and smaller providers in rural areas. On Thursday, Portland-area transit organization TriMet said it will need to cut services starting in 2027 without a higher increase to the payroll tax.

Public transit and environmental advocates say they support increasing taxes to fund public transit and other climate-related initiatives. Namkoong told The Oregonian/OregonLive that investing in public transportation and infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians could help more Oregonians access more employment opportunities and cut their transportation costs, ultimately saving them money in the long run.

Hilda Peréz Delgado, a Forest Grove resident, said access to public transit can be a “life-changer” for individuals like herself who don’t drive or can’t easily access public transportation.

“I have to walk about 40 minutes just to reach the nearest bus stop and there are no supermarkets nearby,” she told the crowd at the Capitol in Spanish. “I’ve had to rely more and more on my young children and my husband just to get to where I need to go. That is not right, and I know I’m not the only one.”

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