Transportation: Can’t go far without funding for transit

Atlantans have long debated how best to relieve transportation congestion that shows no discrimination in stifling commerce, workplace commutes and pleasure trips alike.

The competing arguments swirl around whether more roads or more transit will provide the greatest relief for our overworked infrastructure. The asphalt crowd has long seemed on the winning side of this discussion.

So it’s a positive thing that the process of arriving at the right mix of roads, buses or trains seems to be shifting toward a more balanced approach, particularly at the state level. That has the most potential for helping keep Atlanta a competitive player among the nation’s leading regions.

The passage of a transportation bill this year promised to rev up civic deliberation on this issue as work began toward a 2012 vote on a dedicated penny sales tax.

One of the first milestones in the journey to the vote was reached when the Georgia Department of Transportation recently issued draft investment criteria for projects that would be paid for by a special-purpose local-option sales tax.

We’re pleased GDOT’s report recognizes that solutions to this region’s transportation problems require more than just road building.

The GDOT road map sets “target ranges” for various work categories. It’s not a surprise in this car-centric metro area that road spending filled the biggest percentage bucket, at 20 percent to 50 percent.

It’s a forward-thinking sign, though, that transit ranked a solid second place in the allocation hierarchy. The draft sets a target of 10 percent to 40 percent for the portion expected to be spent for transit capital projects. Next in line is transit operations and maintenance, at 5 percent to 20 percent of the total.

Put another way, the state is allowing a minimum of 15 percent, and up to 60 percent, of the regional transportation sales tax revenue to be spent on mass transit work. That’s a significant recognition of the 558,230 average boardings that occurred each weekday in 2009 across this area’s half-dozen transit systems.

No one expects autos to fall rapidly from favor in our far-flung, thinly populated 28-county metro area. It’s past time to acknowledge, though, that smart transit projects can play a key role in fueling economic growth by enabling more-efficient travel and shuttling of workers to and from key employment centers.

Transit is increasingly a part of the U.S. commuting mix, even in regions like Atlanta that have relatively few people per square mile. Such projects, whether bus- or rail-based, should be given full consideration in coming months as work begins on winnowing project lists.

Selecting proposals that will get people where they need to go may become easier, and be an easier sell to voters, thanks to research on transit ridership released in June by the Atlanta Regional Commission. The ARC’s survey of riders in the city of Atlanta and 20 area counties tells us a lot about transit riders.

Familiarity can fuel change, and the ARC’s examination of who really uses our trains and commuter buses is a good starting point for the public dialogue that should begin now and continue until the 2012 vote.

The survey found that 91.4 percent of all survey respondents lived in households where at least one person worked. Three-fourths of surveyed riders said they were employed. Seventy-one percent reported having driver licenses. Many even had access to cars.

The large majority of riders weren’t rich, with the most commonly reported household income range being $20,000 to $29,999, accounting for 15.7 percent of respondents. Fourteen percent claimed income below $5,000 a year, while 5.6 percent listed their household’s pay as $75,000 to $99,999 annually. Seven percent reported income of greater than $100,000.

The multilayered findings in the ARC report should be used to full advantage in the coming campaign to sell the transportation sales tax to skeptics of what the money would buy and who it would benefit.

A reliable, flexible, truly regional system that connects workers, shoppers and students with workplaces, retail stores and schools is a necessity for the Atlanta region.

The coming months will more fully define the feasible work that an approved tax could fund. Atlantans should keep an open mind to the possibilities that will emerge between now and 2012.

Andre Jackson,
for the Editorial Board

In coming weeks and months, we will look at major issues Atlanta must address in order to move forward as the economy recovers. Look for the designation “Atlanta Forward,” which will identify these discussions.