Proposal to replace SORTA being floated

Cincinnati OH - The Cincinnati Post reports on a proposal for a regional transit panel to replace the existing Southwest Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) board which oversees the Cincinnati Metro.

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune believes that a new panel is needed to replace SORTA, which focuses on Cincinnati, so that the entire tri-state area is covered. A daunting venture at best.

There are many problems involved in a multi-state regional system, primarily the different laws that are in place in each state. Secondly and probably more important is that you then open the agency up to accusations of favoritism of one state over another. These two issues tend to bog down multi-state operations and ultimately make the transit operation less efficient and more costly.

Dealing with different states instantly turns the process of the proposed panel that should deal with transit issues into nothing but politics. Fights over which state should benefit from funding and over revenues raised in one state being used in another state will be common. Should the smaller Northern Kentucky area and even smaller Southeastern Indiana area pay as much as Southwestern Ohio? If so, will they get the same services and if not, why should they pay more? Criticism of the board over questions like that will be common.

While I agree with Portune that SORTA is not effectively set up, his proposed regional umbrella agency will ultimately be more unwieldy and much less effective in the long term than the current SORTA set up is now.

Portune's goal is a good one, better transit that is coordinated. Much like any lofty goal however, the plan is filled with problems that will ultimately make things worse. The agency will be riddled with internal problems due to the politics of it all and that will give the new agency a public relations black eye.

In the end, it will be the rider that suffers from the politics of any multi-state regional transit board. SORTA needs looked at and streamlined but don't change it into a multi-state political boxing ring.