Sen. John Marty: cut transit fares to 25 cents

John Marty, DFL-Roseville, is the my hero of the week for an editorial printed in MinnPost. Here's an excerpt:

$4-per-gallon gas is causing great hardship, but Minnesota can turn that problem into an opportunity to protect the environment, reduce traffic congestion, and help low- and middle-income people cope, simply by substantially cutting public transit fares.

Unfortunately, just when we should be increasing bus and rail ridership, the Metropolitan Council proposes to move us in the opposite direction by raising fares. Boosting fares reduces ridership, while cutting fares increases it.

The Met Council's decision to raise fares due to higher fuel prices and insufficient funding is not surprising, but it is disappointing. When these higher fares reduce the number of riders, it simultaneously increases the number of auto trips, which in turn produces more congestion and wear and tear on roads.

What if we tried a bold new approach to transit and transportation issues? Imagine what would happen if we were to reduce all transit fares to 25 cents per ride. Experience from around the country shows that ridership would soar. The biggest problem with such a change would be that Minnesota's transit systems would be unable to handle all the passengers.

Sen. Marty is spot on here. Gas prices are killing us, and there's a way that we could lessen the burden. Instead of spending all of our money to build new roads that nobody can afford to drive on, we could dramatically improve transit access, to the point where it's even convenient in the suburbs. As Marty writes, "This proposal would require a significant increase in state support for transit systems to make up for their lost fare revenue and higher costs. But it would be the least expensive way to handle growing congestion and reduce auto emissions."

I can hear most of you right now: "Why should we subsidize transit?" Well, the fact is that all transportation is subsidized. According to the Department of Finance (PDF link), in the 2008-2009 biennium we allocated approximately $5 billion to transportation. The gas tax pays for approximately $1.3 billion. Which means that even if we count the gas tax as a "user fee," 74 percent still comes from the taxpayers. Clearly, the way we've been operating our transportation system hasn't been working--so why not spend that money in a way that matches up to today's transportation reality?

Like this post?
Sen. John Marty: cut transit fares to 25 cents	Subscribe by RSS	Subscribe by Email
What is this?	What is this?