Let Us Make Mass Transit A Key Issue This Year

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/2016-president-race-winner-invest-public-transit

Secretary Hillary Clinton going through a subway turnstile
April 7, 2016 AP Photo/Richard Drew
theguardian.com

Hello Everyone:

We are stepping back into the Blogger Candidate Forum today for a look at the candidates's position on public transit.  To wit, when the primary circus rolled into New York, at the beginning of April, each of the candidates made sure to be photographed taking public transportation.  Who could forget the infamous photograph of Secretary Hillary Clinton swiping her Metrocard five times before she finally got through (Saturday Night Live had fun with this moment).  Senator Bernie Sanders had a bit of a senior moment trying to buy a token-the New York City subways has not used tokens since 2003.  Daniel J. McGraw's NextCity article, "Will Next U.S. President Be All Aboard for Transit?" speculates how the eventual President of The United States will invest in public transportation.

The front page of the Daily News
politicsusa.com

Republican presidential nominee candidate Texas Senator Ted Cruz jumped on the transit bandwagon as well.  This was, perhaps, a response to his comments about "New York values."  The New York Daily News decided to offer some friendly and free travel advice.  The tabloid suggested that Sen. Cruz suggested that the Gentleman from Texas take trains "identified with the sixth and 21st letters of the alphabet as the best way to get out the Bronx."  Hence, the picture on the left.

Snarky advice aside, the ubiquitous campaign photo-ops do raise the issue of public transportation.  Public transportation investment has been on the campaign back burner so far and the remaining candidates have not had much to say on the subject.  Granted that public transportation investment is not a really glamorous campaign issue like health care.  Nor is it quite as polemical as immigration and guns.  Nevertheless, Mr. McGraw reports, "As a country, we are in the middle of a radical shift in our relationship to the automobile and its role in transportation, and the current candidates aren't speaking much to the change."  Whether this is a matter of not formulating a transportation policy or a matter of focusing on core issues their would-be voters care about, the bottom line is the remaining candidates are just not acknowledging the fact that pubic transit ridership is up.

Los Angeles MTA
en.wikipedia.org

This is a pity because, as Mr. McGraw reports, "While ridership has increased over the last decade, the growth has happened while funding for transit has remained relatively flat, and many systems are aging and growing more desperate for repair and upgrades."  To underscore this point, the American Public Transportation Association believes that national public transit systems require about "...$86 billion worth of repairs just to get them functional any growth."  Therefore, we have to ask, where to the remaining candidates stand on public transportation?

On the red team, Sen. Cruz placed the New Starts Transit Program on his list of federal programs he would end if elected president.  In a preview of things to come, the Senator voted no in December on a the first real multi-year transportation bill passed since 2005.   No need to worry, the Cruz campaign is floundering badly.  Donald Trump has expressed a certain amount of envy over other countries's high-speed trains.  Mr. Trump told the British newspaper The Guardian in 2015 "the U.S. has to spend more on mass transit, but hasn't yet explained exactly where funding will come from."  In March, Time magazine reported that he came off like a Democrat when speaking about infrastructure investment, minus any real details.

Railroad tracks
americanprogress.org

David Von Drehle wrote in the March 14, 2016 cover article:

Trump has admitted that rebuilding American infrastructure would cost taxpayer dollars.  But then waved away the concern with Trumpian bravado.

"On the federal level, this is going to be an expensive investment, no question about that.  But in the long run it will more than pay for itself," he said.  "It will stimulate our economy while its is being built and make it a lot easier to businesses when it's done-and it can be done on time and under budget.  (http://www.time.com)

Senator Sanders's missing subway tokens
hereandnow.wbur.org

On the blue side of the aisle, both Madame Secretary and the Gentleman from Vermont both agree that more spending on mass transit is an absolute necessity.  Senator Bernie Sanders would like to spend $1 trillion over the next five years on infrastructure, including public transportation improvements.  The proposed spending package includes an extra $75 billion per annum for state infrastructure projects: roads, bridges, and transit.  Secretary Hillary Clinton also wants to increase spending by $275 billion, spread out over a five year period on the same items.  However, she does not go into specifics regarding how much money to allocate for mass transit and road construction.

What separates the Democratic candidates is how the money would be spent.  Daniel McGraw writes, "Sanders wants to increase the spending but disburse it in much in the same way it has been for decades.  Clinton, on the other hand, wants to make a major change have more ways that the federal money can go directly to the transit systems for capital projects and bypass state control."

710 Freeway North
misreagentia.com

Secretary Clinton's proposal to direct federal transportation funds directly to the transit systems acknowledges the fact "In the past few decades, states have taken more of a lead in how transportation funds are spent."  While there are no guidelines for how much the states spend or how, but one thing is certain: "Urban mass transit systems have suffered-either through lack of maintenance or lack of expansion-when governors and state legislatures have seen mass transit as wasteful."

Mass transit spending as wasteful?  Really.  In truth, how the money is spent needs to part of the discussion right now.  Mr. McGraw writes, "About $60 billion a year is spent in total on mass transit in this country..."  This works out like this: "About 25 percent comes from fares, 20 percent from the federal government, and the rest state and local sources."  In previous years, the funds allocated by the federal government was used for capital improvements like light-rail expansions.

I-95 Northbound at the I-40 Interchange
Benson, North Carolina
en.wikipedia.org

However, over time, many of the states-which exert control over disbursing federal funds-have sliced state and federal contributions being used more frequently for essential operating costs.  This is the reasons why transit systems are running a $86 billion deficit in maintenance capital projects, at the same time not expanding further.

On the positive side, Senator Bernie Sanders's plan is an improvement over current state of affairs, "giving money to some governors who have favored spending on suburban sprawl over urban mass transit doesn't change much."  However, while it might increase the number of highway lanes and make bridges safer, it does not facilitate mass transit projects.  While the Clinton plan is short on details, it does have some positive aspects that would allow "...a better one-to-one between the federal and local governments when trying to fund capital improvements that could include expansion of the existing mass transit system."

Nashville Bus Rapid Transit
Nashville, Tennessee
metro-magazine.com

One example is the city of Nashville, Tennessee.  The city has worked in recent years to establish a bus rapid transit line only to have the Republican-controlled statehouse place obstacles in Nashville's path.  If elected president, Sec. Clinton's plan would make it easier to execute local plans, "because the federal grants under her proposal would be project specific and not part an overall state funding package."

Whatever the differences between Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, regardless of who the nominee is, he or she would be wise to curry favor in states like Florida and Ohio by making mass transit funding reform and expansion of services a priority.

Indiana Primary Update:  Donald Trump is the projected winner of the Indiana Republican Primary while on the Democrat side, it is still too close to call.  After two weeks of flailing about the campaign trail, Senator Ted Cruz is officially suspending his campaign.  More tomorrow.