Transportation
Recently, voters in Nashville participated in a referendum that would have raised taxes to pay for a $5.2 billion transit plan. The voters rejected the measure overwhelmingly, leading to concerns about the city's ability to handle its growth, as its streets and highways are becoming increasingly congested. Post-mortems of the referendum show that a variety of factors contributed to the heavy loss, including muddled messaging and a mayoral scandal that tarnished the image of many key proponents (Garrison, 2018). While public transit in many cities has historically been funded through general revenues, the massive infrastructure investment of public transportation today means that the ability to fund major upgrades to public transit often comes via referenda, pitting short-term and short-sighted individual interests against the interests of the public good. I will argue that the financing of public transit should not come down to referenda or even special taxes, but should come from a general funding model.
One of the reasons for making this case is that transit is a public good – its benefits accrue to all, even to those who do not use it. Putting it up for referenda will typically pit the interests of those who fear increased taxation against the poorer classes who disproportionally benefit from increased public transit. The moral and ethical case in favor of increasing transit is strong, but is not always a persuasive argument in the short-run, and therefore is vulnerable at the polls.
First, the idea that transit is a public good. The benefits accrue to those who use transit, including future users. The Mineta study in 2015 showed that there is a link between service intensity and ridership, meaning that more people ride buses when...
References
Alam, B., Nixon, H. & Zhang, Q. (2015) Investigating the determining factors for transit travel demand by bus mode in US metropolitan statistical areas. Mineta Transportation Institute. Retrieved June 17, 2018 from http://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/investigating-determining-factors-transit-travel-demand-bus-mode-us-metropolitan
Garrison, J. (2018).6 reasons why the Nashville transit referendum lost big. The Tennessean. Retrieved June 17, 2018 from https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/05/02/nashville-transit-referendum-6-reasons-why-lost-big/571782002/
Stockton, N. (2018). Why traffic-choked Nashville said "no thanks" to public transit. Wired. Retrieved June 17, 2018 from https://www.wired.com/story/nashville-transit-referendum-vote-plan/
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The Metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Association (MARTA) is the supervising authority of the mass public rail system that serves Atlanta and its surrounding areas. (Orr, April 1, 2011) MARTA is also responsible for the majority of the bus routes that serve Atlanta's urban areas. The outlying counties' bus routes fall under the jurisdiction of each individual county that they run to, from, and through, such as Cobb County's Cobb
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Considerations supporting increased governmental regulation are based on the possibilities of the industry growing beyond the reach of many if left to be controlled by the market forces. Regulating the industry cushions the consumer against the increase in rates which might impact the economy in terms of reduction in businesses due to the high costs of travel and as well as the reduction in the tourism sector which generates revenue
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