New Public Transit Alliance (NuPTA)

1
New Public Transit Alliance (NuPTA)

• RIPEC Study Transportation
• at a Crossroads (2002)
• Growing Smart with Transit
• A Report of the Transit 2020
• Working Group (2007)
• Special Legislative Commission
• to Study Transit in Rhode Island
• (2007)
• RIPTA audit (2007)
• Abrams-Cherwony Associates
• NuPTA Next Steps to Getting
• There 2008

2
RIPEC Study 2002 Establish a systematic and
stable funding structure.

• RIPTA will face
• annual Service
• reductions
• unless a multi-year, fiscal get-well plan
• is adopted and implemented.
• State policy-makers need to reinvent
• the way Rhode Islands transportation
• infrastructure will be financed in
• the future.

3
RIPEC Study 2002

• Current state transit funding is inelastic
• and insufficient to sustain the existing
  statewide transit
• system even in a no growth mode
• one option would be to earmark an additional
  three-quarter of one cent of the gasoline tax
  proceeds to support RIPTA operations. This should
  yield approximately 3.5 million

4
RIPEC Study 2002

• To further diversify RIPTAs revenue base, it
  is also suggested
• that a portion of the revenue collected from
  motor vehicle registration and driver license
  fees be earmarked for mass transit.. If 10 of
  these funds were available to RIPTA, an
  additional 3.1
• million would be available to support bus
  services.

5
The State Guide Plan Element 611 (now called
Transportation 2030)

• Recommends indexing the gas tax for inflation
  (also recommended by the Governor's Transition
  Task Force on Transportation in 2002) as well as
  to diverting existing registration fees and
  vehicle sales taxes to transportation, new tolls,
  and a sales tax on fuel

6
Transit 2020 Working Group (2007)

• fortunate to have a highly capable public
  transit provider,
• RIPTA, which provides very good service given
  funding constraints at a time of increasing
  demand for services

• Rhode Island must
• invest in transit that
• "builds on and complements the existing
• system" and that "such an investment will
• yield numerous benefits" for reasons
• related to congestion, quality of life,
• environment, and to get a "better
• position of the City and State
• in competition with metro
• areas making significant
• Transit investments."

7
Special Legislative Commission 2007

• Require RIPTA, RIDOT and Statewide Planning to
  develop a public transit strategy for Rhode
  Island, that maximizes financial investments and
  connects all forms of transit such as pedestrian,
  bike, rail, ferry, bus, etc.
• Provide additional state and local funding to
  cover operating expenses of RIPTA thereby freeing
  up federal funding for capital investments to
  improve and expand services.

8
Special Legislative Commission 2007

• Plan public transit
• services as the
• defining element of
• New Construction
• And Redevelopment
• rather than as an auxiliary part of communities.

9
RIPTA Audit 2007

• A Management Audit of the RIPTA carried under the
  direction Of
• the State Budget Office. April 12, 2007
• Executive Summary noted that RIPTA performs
• better than its peer group in all five
• measures related to maintenance
• performance, better than peer averages on
• 15 out of 27 measures of performance
• indicators, and its trends were "generally
  favorable and
• comparable to the peer average in the cost per
  passenger measure and
• outperforming or coming very close to the peer
• average in per capita measures."

10
RIPTA Audit 2007

• Areas for improvement
• identified included
• insurance, operations/
• employee ratios and
• administrative costs.
• The report noted that per-capita state and local
  funding for transit in
• Rhode Island 34.09 per person
• (states with big rail operations)
• MA 201.26 per person
• New jersey 96.27 per person
• but also below a comparable state,
• Delaware 86.27 per person

11
Investing in Public TransportationStimulates
Economic Development

• Studies confirm the positive economic impact of
  public transportation investment on new
  development and business revenues. 
• A Cambridge Systematic study estimated that each
  
• 10 million in capital investment yields 30
  million in increased sales, while each 10
  million operating investment yields 32 million.
• Every dollar taxpayers invest in public
  transportation generates an average of 6 in
  economic returns, ranging from 4 to 9.

12
NuPTA Next Steps to Getting ThereFriday, March
7, 2008

• Develop a revenue stream for public transit that
• consists of transportation pollution fees.
• Global warming fee for the lowest 15
  fuel-efficient Vehicles
• Road and bridge tolls
• Congestion pricing charges
• Vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) fee.
• Index gas tax to inflation for additional
  revenue for public transit.
• Dedicate registration fees and vehicle sales
  taxes to transportation