Funding Transit Projects: New Recommendations for U.S. Policy

The City Fix

Our country is facing a public transit crisis.  State and local governments would like to increase investment in public transit and build new transit systems to ease congestion and support transit-oriented development, which the Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines as “compact, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods located near rail stations or other permanent transit facilities.”

In the meantime, existing public transit systems are struggling to keep running.  Around the nation, transit agencies are raising fares and cutting services, which further detracts from ridership and revenue.  Revenue from other traditional funding sources like sales taxes has also dropped off.

Yesterday, in response to this crisis, the GAO released a report yesterday (PDF)  on alternative strategies to fund public transit. More specifically, the report focuses on “value capture strategies,” which are designed to take advantage of the increase in property value — for both private and public property — around public transit to help fund further investment in public transit infrastructure.

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