Equity in Regional Public Transit Finance: Tradeoffs between Social and Geographic Equity
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
This study examines equity in public transit finance for transit service among nine cities and townships that formed a consortium for regional transit service in Toledo, Ohio, in 2006. The main data for the analysis—operating and financial data of fixed-route bus and demand-responsive services and data on local property tax receipts—were obtained from the transit agency, as well as the National Transit Database. The analysis results show that the distribution of costs and benefits of transit subsidy was progressive among sociodemographic groups while it exhibited geographic inequity, and suggest that it is inevitable to find a conflict between social equity and geographic equity in public transit finance within urban areas where transit dependents remain in inner cities while regional transit funding has to rely more on taxes provided by affluent suburban communities. The shrinking role of federal and state governments in public transit assistance exacerbated this conflicting situation by reducing funding that could be used to enhance transit service in each community.
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Acknowledgments
The contents of this study reflect the views of the author, who is responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The author wishes to thank James Gee and Jason Binder at TARTA for their tremendous support to provide the data and information on operation and finance. The author also thanks Sarah Lyon-Hill and Jeanette Eckert for their assistance with the original work of this study, as well as Angela Martinez and Karitsa Norman for the revision of this article.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • December 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 2, 2015
Accepted: Dec 7, 2015
Published online: Mar 21, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 21, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
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