Several cities across the country faced transit-oriented elections last week, and the success and failure of some of those measures offers lessons for Oklahoma City.
Local transit advocates say a regional rail-based transit system could come before voters in a few years and Oklahoma City officials may increase promotion of a regional transit plan over the next several months.
“Right now, it’s about continuing to increase support for this,” said Mayor Mick Cornett about a regional transit plan being developed by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments.
Oklahoma City has been successful in passing sales-tax increases for large capital projects over the past 20 years, but will voters look favorably on a tax increase to pay for bus and rail transit?
Austin voters rejected a $1 billion bond last week that included a downtown light rail line that drew heavy opposition from transit advocates.
“With this vote, Austin has rejected a bad urban rail plan,” stated Our Rail, an Austin-based group that campaigned against the plan. “It was the wrong route and it was formed by values that were not shared by our community.”
A perception that the rail line catered more towards the desires of developers, rather than urban residents was a major reason 57 percent of voters rejected the idea.
In Austin, which has large support for public transit improvements, the lack of cohesion among the transit community resulted in the rail line’s defeat.
Seattle voters approved a 0.1 percent sales tax and $60 annual car-tab fee to pay for expanded bus service. Transit ridership is much higher in Seattle than OKC, but an earlier attempt to increase taxes for transit service failed in April when the ballot was presented to voters in suburban Seattle.
Seattle shows that transit support can be a hard sale when voters in more suburban communities are asked to participate. OKC’s regional transit plan could involve elections in Edmond and Moore, but transit advocates say they are committed to showing the benefit a regional system would have in the suburbs.
Transit ballots were also passed in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Oakland, both of which included funding for bus service, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, along with road improvements.
A light rail ballot in St. Petersburg, Florida, suffered a crushing defeat, making November a tough election season for rail-based plans across the country.
Every community is different and the prospects of a transit tax passing in Oklahoma City would result on many factors. But based on results in other communities, its safe to say that ballots with the best chance to pass include multiple transit and pedestrian options, along with some funding for road improvements. Taking a MAPS approach to transit where multiple projects are rolled into one tax increase could be the way to go.
Elections last week also show that rail-based plans can be hard to pass, especially without uniform support between city leaders and transit advocates.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2014.