Elections News

Twin Cities Chambers Condemn Failure of Transit Tax

The presidents of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber and Saint Paul Area Chamber on Sunday condemned the Legislature’s inability to approve a dedicated funding source to expand Twin Cities transit...

PSTA riders set another record

Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus riders resumed their record streak last month by taking more rides than in any other April in PSTA history. The mark is a 4 percent improvement over April 2012 and the fifth highest monthly total ever...

O’Malley signs gas tax bill and announces highway and transit projects

Gov. Martin O’Malley signed Maryland’s first gas tax increase in 20 years into law on Thursday and announced $1.2 billion in highway and transit projects...

Transit union pushes for passage of internet sales tax bill

The union for public transportation workers is pushing Congress to pass a bill to allow state and local governments to collect sales taxes...

Austin's urban rail plan could wrap up in early 2014

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell told members of the Transit Working Group on May 10 that the urban rail plan could be completed in early 2014 and potentially put before voters in a 2014 election...

Missouri House OKs putting transportation sales tax on the ballot

A penny sales tax that would be dedicated to state and local transportation projects cleared the Missouri House today...

Bellevue City Council endorses public vote on transit funding

The Bellevue City Council voted 6-0 on May 6 to advocate at the state Legislature for a “local option” to fund transit, but only if the funding alternative is decided on by voters. The action followed input from residents and a presentation by city staff, King County Councilmember Jane Hague and a King County Metro official on possible bus route reductions that would impact Bellevue...

New plan for expanding transit in Central Indiana crosses line into micro-management

It has been a month since the Indiana Senate decided to send a bill to expand mass transit in Marion and Hamilton counties to a summer study committee...

Lorain County will have to give up transit funds

Lorain County Administrator Jim Cordes sent a letter to the Ohio Department of Transportation stating that the county will have to give up about $1.5 million in federal funds for transit projects as the county can’t provide matching money...

Perrysburg transit levy passes by big margin

With his assistance dog sitting with him, Gill Lutz clapped and shouted for joy upon hearing that the City of Perrysburg’s public transportation levy passed on Tuesday night...

Senate Transportation Committee approves $2.5 billion funding plan

A plan that would increase the state's investment in addressing its transportation needs by $2.5 billion more annually cleared the Senate Transportation Committee today...

Voters turn down county transit levy

Voters decided Tuesday that $1.23 per year was too much for the owner of a home valued at $100,000 to pay to support expanding Lorain County Transit.

The county commissioners, who put the 0.04-mill levy on the ballot, had hoped that the small amount — which they often equated with money someone might drop into a Salvation Army kettle over the holidays — would be enough to convince voters to back the levy...

Kalamazoo County voters overwhelmingly approve countywide transit property tax renewal

Kalamazoo County voters have approved renewing a 0.4 mill levy for four years to fund countywide transit services...

Group suggests new transit tax, private help

To complete the region’s transit system – including a streetcar to the airport, commuter rail to Lake Norman, and rapid transit along Independence Boulevard – the county may need an additional half-cent sales tax for transit, according to a draft report released Monday...

Vancouver council denies a vote on light rail

The Vancouver City Council declined Monday to place an anti-light rail initiative on the November ballot.

It was the first time the council had discussed the petition since it had been certified. In April, a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge struck down a state law that initially had rendered invalid hundreds of signatures on a petition to get the initiative on the ballot...

Officials discuss governance, funding for expanded transit zone

A concept that would improve and expand the existing public transit system from Ann Arbor to its immediate neighbors is gaining traction among local elected officials...

Tampa's hope to hold city-only transit referendum dies in the Legislature

It was a long shot from the start, and now Tampa's hope to hold its own transit tax referendum is dead for the year.

The proposal was a top legislative priority for Tampa, where Mayor Bob Buckhorn wants his own shot at passing the kind of transit tax proposal that three years ago failed county-wide while winning precincts inside the city...

Lawmakers to meet on tax bill for transportation

Beacon Hill lawmakers are getting back to work on a plan to raise $500 million in new taxes to help fix and modernize the state’s transportation system...

Shumlin signs gas tax increase that takes effect Wednesday

Gov. Peter Shumlin on Monday afternoon signed the transportation budget bill that contains a new gas tax, meaning the tax will go into effect Wednesday...

Obama to Nominate Charlotte Mayor to Transportation Post

President Obama on Monday plans to nominate Anthony R. Foxx, the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., to be the next secretary of transportation, choosing a rising young African-American from the South to balance out a cabinet criticized for a lack of diversity...

Kalamazoo County transit millage will serve entire community

Kalamazoo County voters are being asked to approve a renewal of a countywide transit millage on May 7. We urge voters to support it...

UTA ‘essentially done now’ with 2015 five-line plan

Riding high from this month’s celebratory airport TRAX line launch — completed two years early and $40 million under budget — the Utah Transit Authority crossed a host of other items off its to-do list Wednesday, noting the initial target to deliver five lines by 2015 is "essentially done now."

Is Increasing the Gas Tax Truly Politically Unpalatable?

As the surface transportation bill nears its expiration next year, you can expect to hear plenty of discussion about how, exactly, the feds will pay for transit and highways in FY 2015 and beyond. The issue, after all, is poised to be a salient one...

Alameda, Contra Costa counties eye ballot measures to increase sales taxes for transportation

State lawmakers will soon consider legislation to clear the way for ballot measures in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to increase sales taxes for transportation...

Viewpoint: Vote 'yes' to continue support of countywide public transit services

On May 7, residents of Kalamazoo County have the opportunity to renew their support for a 0.4 countywide public transit millage, which was first approved by voters in 2009. We encourage voters to vote "yes" on this millage renewal...

Pinellas transit talk shifts to private advocacy campaign

"Where's the money?"

Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority president Brad Miller is getting that question all too often these days, and frequently from people who support and are fretting over the future of mass transit...

Diluted Central Indiana mass transit bill headed for more negotiations

The Indiana Senate today passed watered-down legislation that would create a committee to study a transit expansion in central Indiana over the summer...

Transit advocates celebrate as regional authority gets to work

As transit advocates celebrated with a march, metro Detroit's new Regional Transit Authority held its first meeting Wednesday, the first step toward modernizing and making more efficient public transportation with a rapid-transit bus system as its centerpiece...

Patrick says he's open to transit tax-hike compromise

As the Legislature moves ahead with its own transportation revenue plans, Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday morning recast his request, indicating he's open to a floor of $750 million in new tax revenues for transportation...

Saginaw County leaders to consider countywide bus proposal, dangerous dog policy

Saginaw County leaders recommended action on two contentious issues during April 2013 committee meetings...

County has $1.5M in federal money but can’t provide local portion

The Ohio Department of Transportation has told the Lorain County commissioners to use nearly $1.5 million in federal money earmarked for transit projects or lose the cash...

DFLers put brakes on higher gas tax

 Facing opposition from their governor to higher gasoline taxes, DFLers scrambled Wednesday to retool a package of funding for highways and transit...

Patrick pressures lawmakers on taxes, transportation spending

House leaders worked Monday afternoon to firm up the votes they would need to override Governor Deval Patrick’s threatened veto of a major transportation and taxes bill that the governor believes does not go far enough to increase taxes and spending...

Corbett transportation plan includes gas tax hike

Call it Gov. Tom Corbett’s road show.

The state Legislature has yet to seriously take up the issue of transportation funding. But members of the Corbett administration have been traveling the state to publicly tie dollars for eagerly-anticipated transportation projects to the funding plan...

After years of planning, bus rapid transit begins taking shape in Grand Rapids

Ten years of planning. Ten years of patience and hoping, years marked by defeat and success alike. Now, finally, a tangible part of Grand Rapids' forthcoming $40-million bus rapid transit Silver Line is beginning to show...

Key business group backs transit tax hike in metro

The Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce is backing a sales tax increase that would help pay for transit expansion in the metro...

WASHTENAW COUNTY: New urban core transit concept gains traction

A new proposed transit plan for urban core communities is being discussed by local leaders...

New transit plans get the ‘green light’

In about a month, Greenlight Pinellas will become a frequently heard phrase.

Final approval of the campaign slogan is expected at the April 24 board meeting of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority [PSTA]... 

Pay now for transit future, pay soon for transit present

On Monday, Durham County shoppers started paying for their transit future...

New Columbia bus riders group aims to be heard Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/03/2706800/new-columbia-bus-riders-group.html#storylink=cpy

If a newly formed bus riders group has its way, riders in the Midlands will have a greater say in decisions made regarding public transportation...

Minority of L.A. County voters quashed transit tax extension

A minority of voters living in a daisy chain of small, suburban and relatively upscale enclaves around the county's outer rim were largely responsible for last fall's razor thin defeat of a $90-billion transit tax that received lopsided ballot box support, a Times analysis shows...

Legislature OKs $8.1 million for Xpress buses, stalls MARTA reorganization plan until next year

Two transit measures that are important to metro Atlanta commuters were resolved when the state Legislature ended its 2013 session late Thursday...

Maryland Senate approves gas tax increase; gun-control bill survives House panel’s fight

Maryland lawmakers gave final approval Friday to the first increase in the state’s gas tax in 20 years, acting to replenish a transportation fund that is rapidly running out of money for highway construction and long-planned mass-transit projects...

Transit Advocates Won’t Push for Wake Tax in 2013

Proponents of a half-cent sales tax to pay for increased bus service and commuter rail in Wake County said recently they will no longer push for the tax to be added as a referendum on the fall 2013 ballot...

Cuccinelli: Va.’s Medicaid, road-funding bills unconstitutional

The General Assembly’s landmark transportation-funding overhaul and a Medicaid deal that Democrats linked to it are unconstitutional, according to two legal opinions Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II issued Friday...

Minnesota DFLers push for higher taxes for transportation

After years of riding behind Republicans on transportation, DFLers now in the driver’s seat at the Legislature are pushing hefty increases in taxes for transit and highways...

Supporters seek transit momentum

Several nonprofit groups are pressing Hillsborough County commissioners to move quickly on developing a transportation plan that will include better bus service and rail..

Md. House Panel Approves Gas Tax Measure

A House panel voted 15-4 on Monday for a gas tax measure to raise hundreds of millions of dollars per year, but with some changes to the plan initially submitted by Gov. Martin O’Malley...

No bus service hinders residents

Perrysburg resident Derek O’Neal said he will have to quit his job of nearly nine years and move out of Perrysburg to a town with public transportation if the transit levy does not get passed May 7...

Greenlight Pinellas awareness campaign proposed for transit referendum

The campaign to educate Pinellas residents about the bus and rail plans they will vote on in 2014 got a name on Monday, and a tote bag...

Proposed light-rail ordinance won't appear on '13 Vancouver ballot

An anti-light-rail ordinance won’t go to city voters this fall, the Vancouver City Council decided Monday...

Missouri Senate approves sales tax increase for transportation

Missouri senators endorsed a penny sales tax increase that could generate close to $8 billion over a decade for transportation projects...

Twin Cities transit tax would double under Dayton plan

To make the math work for his transit plans, Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday proposed raising the metro transit sales tax by a half cent, double the increase he’d sought earlier...

Missouri Senate debates sales tax for transportation, infrastructure

Missouri senators are debating whether they should have legislative control over transportation projects financed by a proposed 1-cent sales tax...

A Public Transit Pope

We don't know much yet about how Jorge Mario Bergoglio will lead the Catholic Church. But the new Pope's biography speaks to Bergoglio's urban past...

Fort Lauderdale streetcar gets county OK

Broward County, Fla., gave its approval Tuesday for a streetcar loop, dubbed "The Wave," to serve Fort Lauderdale...

Different ideas on how to pay for transportation improvements

Governor Deval Patrick’s $13 billion transportation plan is gaining traction on Beacon Hill, but lawmakers are searching for other ways to pay for it...

County raises vehicle fees to generate transit money

County Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to raise Durham’s vehicle-registration fee by $7, to raise money to support new and existing transit lines.

The increase will go into effect in the fall and likely will be joined by an additional $3 boost instituted by Triangle Transit. Together, the moves will raise the cost of registering a car in Durham from $33 to $43, County Manager Mike Ruffin said...

Push grows for Arizona transit funding fix

Arizona transportation officials told the State Transportation Board last week that, faced with declining revenue, it can no longer afford new freeway construction and upkeep at current levels...

Commuters give up the 'ball and chain'

When Ann Arbor, Michigan, advertising executive Al McWilliams finished high school in the late 1990s, he made a vow.
He swore he would "never, ever again" commute to work by car, "no matter what I was doing in life."

Record 10.5 Billion Trips Taken On U.S. Public Transportation In 2012

The demand for public transportation rose last year as Americans took 10.5 billion trips, the second highest ridership since 1957, and 154 million more trips than the previous year, according to a report released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This was the seventh year in a row that more than 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation systems nationwide...

Hillsborough transit supporters ready for renew fight

The people want more and better ways to get around town, but in 2010 they soundly rejected a plan to make that happen with light rail, bus and road improvements.

Still smarting from that loss, leaders are slowly coming back to the drawing board, pushed by business interests that see transportation improvements in Tampa Bay as the key to economic growth...

MN Legislature to shape transit plans in Washington County

A lot is riding on decisions before the 2013 Legislature as public transit plans forge ahead affecting communities from one end of Washington County to the other...

Mass. speaker seeks smaller tax hike than gov.

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo called for a much smaller package of tax increases than has been recommended by Gov. Deval Patrick, saying he wants to address pressing needs while avoiding any ‘‘collateral damage’’ to the state’s economy..

LA City Council approves plan for streetcar line

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a 30-year plan for the funding and operation of a streetcar line in downtown Los Angeles.

The council voted 9-3 Wednesday to give the go-ahead to the trolley that would run on a four-mile Broadway-to-Figueroa loop that includes Disney Hall and Staples Center...

Bill would allow tax districts along rail line

A bill allowing the creation of a special tax district for the proposed Cotton Belt commuter rail line was filed Thursday by a Dallas state senator, even though a large portion of the project falls within Fort Worth whose City Council earlier this week rejected the plan...

Transit tax district may be doomed

Pierce Transit’s request to be allowed to draw a special district where it could restore some bus service if voters agree to pay a higher sales tax has run into a wall in the state Senate...

O'Malley unveils transportation funding plan

Yesterday, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley released his proposal to restructure Maryland's gas taxes to raise $3.4 billion for transportation over 5 years. The plan is superficially similar to the recent Virginia transportation funding bill, but improves upon it in several ways...

Hillsborough to link transportation planning, economic development

Most Hillsborough County residents know the county suffers from a poor transportation system and a lagging economy.

What if the solution to both problems was intertwined?

O'Malley, top Democrats propose higher taxes on gas

Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly are proposing to raise taxes on gasoline by $2 billion over five years to pay for highways, transit and other transportation projects...

YCIPTA discusses potential transit sales tax

The Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority, which runs the Yuma County Area Transit (YCAT) bus system, is considering asking voters to approve a one-tenth of a percent transit sales tax...

Twin Cities mayors back Dayton's transit tax

A Dayton administration plan to increase sales taxes for transit would be mandatory in Twin Cities counties and would shift more of the burden of building the Southwest Corridor light-rail line from the state to metro residents...

Report: More mass transit crucial to Central Mass. cities

A new report from MassINC says the governor's proposal to increase transportation spending could be particularly important for Gateway cities such as Worcester, Leominster and Fitchburg...

Pinellas moves forward with putting transit tax

Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved putting a question on the Nov. 4, 2014, ballot that would ask residents whether they would pay a higher sales tax to support a major overhaul of the transportation system...

Indiana House OKs mass transit legislation

Legislation that could clear the way for expanded mass transit in Central Indiana made it through the Indiana House on Monday night.

That was the easy part...

Hampton Roads can't use regional tax for mass transit

Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia got higher taxes than the rest of the state in the landmark transportation bill that passed the General Assembly this weekend...

Streetcars could ride rails from downtown to Central West End

Downtown St. Louis boosters envision the construction of a seven-mile streetcar system as a catalyst for economic development between downtown and the Central West End...

Virginia lawmakers approve sweeping transportation plan

The Virginia General Assembly ended its annual session Saturday with passage of a sweeping transportation deal, handing Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) a qualified victory on an issue that has vexed the state for a generation but that also puts him at odds with the conservative wing of his party...

Austin rail push resumes, but key questions linger

After slamming the brakes last year on planning for the long-envisioned urban rail system in Austin, city leaders in recent months have rejuvenated efforts to bring a plan to voters by next year...

Clackamas County board splits on placing two Portland-Milwaukie light rail measures on May ballot

Up until Thursday night, the process to place two light rail measures on the May special election ballot proceeded smoothly. But when it came time to give final approval for the first Portland-Milwaukie light rail votes since the passage of Measure 3-401, the Clackamas County commissioners started to split...

Mo. House panel mulls 1-cent sales tax increase

Missouri Transportation Department Director Kevin Keith told a House committee Tuesday that a penny increase to the state sales tax would generate enough revenue for transportation "to make a difference."

Gas, car-tab taxes drive House Dems’ transportation plan

House Democrats rolled out a nearly $10 billion transportation package Wednesday that would boost taxes on gasoline, increase car tabs and even charge a bicycle fee to raise money...

Wyo. Governor signs fuel tax increase into law

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has signed a bill into law that will hike the state's fuel tax by a dime a gallon...

Raleigh universities urge Wake commissioners to stop delaying transit

Wake county commissioners are being called out on public transit—again.

This time it's Raleigh colleges and universities insisting commissioners stop blocking a half-cent sales tax referendum that would bring light rail and expanded bus service to the Triangle...

Central Indiana transit bill goes to full Indiana House

Legislation that could lead to improved mass transit in Central Indiana gained momentum Wednesday in the Indiana House...

Task force may study funding Utah transportation

Legislators may soon form a new task force to study how to fund the state’s transportation needs — including looking at how other states and nations do it...

Washington mayors urge Olympia to consider 8-cent increase in gas tax

The mayors of more than 40 cities across Washington have sent a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and legislative leaders, urging them to consider an 8-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax to help pay for transportation needs...

Virginia Senate Finance Committee passes compromise transportation bill

The truest sign that Virginia lawmakers might be closer to a possible compromise on Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s $3.1 billion transportation initiative could be that almost everybody found something distasteful in the proposal that emerged Tuesday from a key Senate panel...

As transit talk builds in Pinellas, a new advocacy group arrives

Brian Willis sold his car when he moved from the Tampa Bay area to Washington, D.C., for law school. He took public transportation everywhere. When he moved back to take a job at a law firm, he found a place six blocks from a bus station. Yet now he mostly drives to work...

Pinellas to vote later this month on placing transit tax on November 2014 ballot

The Pinellas County Commission will vote Feb. 26 on whether to place a sales tax increase for major transit changes on the ballot in November 2014...

O’Malley meets with Senate Democrats on Md. transportation package

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday as part of a continuing effort to craft a bill to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for transportation projects, an aide said...

Bus rapid transit backers to C-Tran: Move project forward

Supporters of bus rapid transit made a renewed push for the system Tuesday night, undeterred by a November vote that left the proposal without a clear path forward for local funding...

Virginia’s governor says he’s prepared to cut a deal on transportation

A key committee meeting Tuesday could offer a glimpse of what a possible compromise on Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s transportation funding plan would look like.

And lawmakers from both sides and transportation experts say the least likely element to survive is the centerpiece of McDonnell’s proposal: eliminating the gas tax for an increase in the sales tax...

States Committed Nearly $120 Billion for Transportation Improvement Projects in 2012

State departments of transportation (DOTs) and local governments committed a little over $117 billion in funding for highway, bridge, transit, port and other transportation-related construction projects during 2012, according to new analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)...

Transit advocates to show support at House hearing

More than 200 people are expected to attend meeting at the Statehouse to show their support for a public referendum on mass transit funding...

Lawmakers want federal gas tax lowered —to raise state gas tax

Utah legislators took the first step Monday to send Congress a message: Please reduce the federal gasoline tax to allow states to raise it by the same amount.

The Senate Transportation, Public Utilities and Technology Committee voted 3-0 to pass SCR6 calling for that. It now goes to the full Senate...

Suburbs open to transit tax

A DFL plan to yank two conservative suburban counties into a transit taxing district is drawing a surprisingly muted reaction...

Bill gives townships authority to hike taxes for roads

Township boards of supervisors could be getting broader ability to raise money for their local highways, roads, bridges and culverts.

Legislation that passed its first test Thursday grants townships the authority to levy an additional tax of up to 50 cents per $1,000 of property value...

PA, Like Other States, Considers Gas Tax to Pay for Transpo Projects

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett this week proposed a 25-cent tax increase on gasoline over the next five years, joining a group of at least 13 state governments that have turned to tax increases as a potential means to pay for transportation projects.,,

Mass transit takers physically active

People who take mass transit in large urban areas may more than meet their weekly recommended aerobic exercise requirement, U.S. researchers say...

New tax hikes eyed for roads, transit

States are scrambling to find taxes to pay for highway repairs and their public transit systems, including payroll and sales taxes, and raising taxes paid by gasoline stations...

Dayton offers game-changing transit plan

Presto chango!

With one modest proposal, Gov. Mark Dayton may have put the Twin Cities on a fast track to build out its transit system...

Poll: MARTA riders have stronger connection than nonriders to Atlanta region

Living across from an Atlanta MARTA station, Matt Duncan likes to ride the train to downtown or hop a bus to Buckhead or Inman Park. More than a way to get around, these transit lines help him feel more a part of metro Atlanta life...

Transit advocates discuss how to fund bus service

Transit advocates used a forum in Tacoma Thursday to offer options that would generate more money for bus service, whether directly from the state or by imposing a motor vehicle excise tax.

“We continue to push hard for more funding,” said Rob Johnson, executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition. “But it’s an uphill battle.”

Transit supporters find their voice at Statehouse Wednesday

Transit supporters needed this.

They needed the hundreds of people who showed up at the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday afternoon, braving the cold and the wind to share their thoughts on expanding bus and perhaps rail service in Central Indiana...

Increase in gas tax, other vehicle fees proposed by commission

The typical vehicle owner would pay an extra $120 a year to drive in Wisconsin, under a package of recommendations proposed Wednesday by a state transportation commission...

Virginia governor recommends $1 billion for rail, transit

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed "Virginia's Road to the Future" transportation project list includes $1 billion for new rail and transit projects, his office announced Tuesday...

Miller proposes local gas tax, leasing ICC

Baltimore and Maryland's counties could impose their own 5-cents-a-gallon tax on gas to pay for local roads and buses under a proposal by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller...

Missouri sales tax for transportation suggested

The chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is suggesting a 1-cent sales tax for 10 years that would be dedicated for transportation...

Drivers Cover Just 51 Percent of U.S. Road Spending

There’s a persistent misconception in American culture that transit is a big drain on public coffers while roads conveniently and totally pay for themselves through the magic of gas taxes. And that used to be true — at least for interstate highways, a fraction of the total road network...

Wheels on the Bus: Mass Transit

Few parts of Massachusetts government need additional spending as badly as transportation — or have as publicly visible deficiencies. Whether squirming on ancient Red Line cars, sitting in interminable Springfield rush-hour traffic, or waiting for economy-boosting expansions to underserved southeastern towns, just about everybody in the Commonwealth sees, on an almost-daily basis, the consequences of inadequate investment...

Sanders Pushes To Put Transit Plan On August Ballot

A lot more people in the Kansas City area could be voting on a mass transit plan as soon as this August.

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders has been working on a plan that would use existing freight lines to take commuter trains from the river market east through Independence, Blue Springs, and all the way to Oak Grove. Another line would head from River Market southeast to the Truman sports complex, Raytown and Lee’s Summit... 

Pinellas rolling toward 2014 transit tax referendum

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority Board of Directors on Wednesday agreed to ask the Pinellas County Commission to include a one-cent transit improvement sales tax on the November 2014 ballot...

Transit trends up

“Ridership for last year increased about 21 percent,” Harbor Transit Marketing Director Dennis Swartout said. “It is affordable and very accessible.”

Kalamazoo city, county moving forward with proposal for countywide public transit system

The city of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County governments are moving forward with the concept of a countywide public transit system...

Patrick pushes for new taxes to overhaul transportation system

Governor Deval Patrick launched a public campaign Monday to win support for raising taxes to repair and reinvigorate the state’s beleaguered transportation system, seeking ­Beacon Hill approval for $1.02 billion a year in new or higher taxes and fees dedicated to transportation...

APTA survey: Majority of Americans support public transportation

A nationwide survey of voters taken during the week of the Nov. 6 presidential election found that 75 percent of respondents support using tax dollars to expand and improve public transportation, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)...
 

Editorial: Transportation funding will spark Western Massachusetts' economy

The region’s economy is only as good as its transportation network.

As Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, put it: “Transportation moves people, but transportation also moves the economy – or it doesn’t.”  

Indiana legislature: Transit campaign hopes to build public support

Transit advocates are starting a public campaign to build support for a proposal to expand mass transit options in Central Indiana...

Editorial: Taxing for transit

Transportation officials would be forgiven if they found new hope after the Nov. 6 election.

Voters, though, did not agree to pay for needed improvements to the state's crumbling highways and transit systems. Instead, a winning majority was persuaded by Gov. Jerry Brown and school leaders to approve higher taxes to deter any further cuts to public education...

Should Parking Be Taxed to Fund Bike Paths?

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to introduce in the coming days his plan for shoring up transit and road funding in the Commonwealth. His former transportation director has been offering some ideas too...

Expanding Augusta Bus Routes Could Tap Transit Tax Dollars

George Jackson rides the bus every day; he uses the south Augusta Transfer Station and says service suffers in south Augusta...

McDonnell proposes eliminating Virginia’s gas tax

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell proposed Tuesday an ambitious overhaul of how Virginia pays for roads, rail and transit, including eliminating the gas tax and replacing it with an increase in the sales tax...

Otter proposes local-option tax to help replace Idaho's $141 million personal property tax

Gov. Butch Otter said he supports a broad local-option tax Monday, saying such levies could help offset repeal of the $141 million personal property tax that supports, cities, counties, schools and other local governments...

Tri-Valley voters helped sink tax hike despite millions for BART

Even the lure of millions for BART wasn't enough to convince Livermore-area voters to approve an Alameda County transportation sales tax in November.
It narrowly lost the election in part because it failed by large margins in Livermore and Pleasanton despite $400 million set aside for an extension of BART to Livermore...

Bay Area transportation officials support lowering sales tax threshold to 55 percent

Faced with a potential $296 billion shortfall over the next decade to maintain and expand California's aging highway and transit systems, Bay Area leaders are throwing their full support behind an attempt to reduce the voter-approval threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent for transportation sales taxes...

Rail supporters seek special tax district

Private developers who want to build a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Plano will ask state lawmakers for a special tax district to collect money off the route in 13 cities, officials briefed on the plan say...

Perrysburg to put 0.8 mill transit tax before voters; Levy would fund limited service

Perrysburg voters again will decide whether to fund the city's own public transportation system, this time at a significantly reduced millage for a trimmed service...

Commission promotes regional transit taxes plan

A group commissioned by Gov. Scott Walker will recommend new fees and laws this month to generate $6.8 billion for roads and transit systems during the next decade...