Transit leaders getting worried

Charlotte NC - The American Public Transit Association (APTA) is holding its annual meeting in Charlotte this week. While not officially on the agenda, the transit tax repeal effort going on in the host city is squarely at the forefront of discussions at the meeting among transportation agency leaders from across the country.

Why? They are getting worried that the repeal effort could become a national trend.

These officials should worry. For decades, public transit has come up with new ways to squander public money. Led and urged on by APTA, which is nothing more than a Washington DC lobby group, transit systems across America have abandoned the concept of providing service and jumped on the numerous unneeded transit project bandwagons that ply the nation.

APTA president, Bill Millar stated that he can't recall any transit tax repeal vote like what is happening in Charlotte. Well Bill, get used to it as it will be happening more often as time goes on.

Many people are tired of the waste that generated from transit systems. Beside the waste generated from the TA's who have lost focus on what they are there for, cities use the transit systems more or less as prostitutes to further their goals such as development. APTA often acts as the pimp by pushing for rail or other unneeded transit projects that do little to serve the public and everything to waste money.

"What's wrong with this picture?" asked John Inglish, general manager for the Utah Transit Authority. What's wrong John is this; Charlotte's transit system can't afford to run what it has now, has lost focus on the basics of providing service and hasn't been a good steward of the taxpayer's money that it already receives.

The tax was originally passed for the system to help fund the operation of the rail line. Before the first rail was laid, CATS was already aggressively planning more rail lines. The original rail line needed to prove itself first before people were willing to pay even more for additional rail lines. CATS couldn't grasp that simple concept and thus the tax repeal effort was born.

Perhaps if the people of more cities across the nation adopted efforts to slap down their spendthrift transit systems and force them to fix what they already have in place before building more, public transit could become a viable option for many people again.

Clearly the APTA way of expensive transit projects isn't working well towards getting butts in seats. Its methods have helped push many transit systems over the brink yet the TA's continue to blindly follow.

Transit Tax Opponents Touch A Nerve

Charlotte NC - While I still believe that repealing the transit tax in Charlotte will ultimately hurt public transit more than it will help it, I am leaning more and more towards siding with the tax opponents based on many recent events.

The focus of the transit tax repeal effort is focused on the light rail line in Charlotte. An expensive line that many believe isn't being built for transportation but for developmental reasons and I completely agree. A commentary piece in the Charlotte Observer by two Mecklensburg County commissioners helps back that point up as well as shows the rabid response they received from the pro-rail crowd for opposing the line. Mecklensburg County commissioners Karen Bently (R) and Dan Bishop (R) penned the piece that appeared in the paper, primarily in response to another commentary piece in the paper by Observer columnist, Fannie Flono.

Flono calls for a "serious debate" without the exaggerations. Exaggerations such as that the line is being built for development rather than transportation is one of them. Ms. Flono, that is the point. I don't believe that you want a "serious debate" as when a well documented fact is presented to you it is brushed off as an exaggeration and you claim "What's next? The mass transit tax is a conspiracy to steal our babies?"

The simple fact of the matter is that the Charlotte line is being built for development purposes. It has been stated as such in many news reports as well as in public meeting that development is the main focus of the line. Moving people is just a side benefit and therefore it isn't placed where it should be for moving the most people.

The Commissioners bring up an important fact in response to the pro-tax critics. That fact is that the transit plan has been hijacked. It isn't focused on improving public transit. The plan is really a development plan but needs to have a rail line to help the development goals move forward and to get the rail line, you have to classify it as a transportation plan.

"The first aim of transportation spending should be improving transportation, not creating lifestyle choices." A good quote by the Commissioners. That is exactly what is being done with rail under Charlotte's transportation plan. I would also go a bit further and add that the plan also is designed to displace the poor so that they are forced to move elsewhere and become another community's problem. That is also another well documented fact of light rail placement when done for developmental purposes.

The commentary I made in this Laurels & Lances article states it well: "What is often overlooked in these deals are that the poorest residents, the same ones that the politicians claim they want to help, will be displaced. The poorest residents will be pushed out so development can occur. This little fact is one of the most glossed over items of revitalization efforts in any city. The politicians and pro-side activist groups will end up getting the residents all excited about having their neighborhood and life quality improving so that none of them will question anything until they get a court order to move out so a developer can build a condo. Rather than actually improve the lives of its residents through proper education and proper investment in the community, cities opt for unneeded capital projects which ultimately force the "problem" out of their area and into another area."

In addition, CATS can't afford the luxury of a rail line that hauls a few percent of the population while sucking down more than half of the budget needed to run the entire system. The transit tax will help there but only to a point as the tax will not generate enough money to even remotely offset the losses generated by the rail line. CATS also needs to work towards fixing what it already has in place rather than rushing out to plan many more rail lines, with city leaders who steering the proposed lines towards areas they want to redevelop.

The more I learn of the Charlotte transit tax fiasco, the more I favor the efforts of those that wish to repeal it. CATS hasn't learned much at all over the negative response nor have many of the politicians. Perhaps losing a precious revenue source might be the only way to wake them up.

Tacky Trolleys proposed

Winston-Salem NC - Winston-Salem is considering adding night time, weekend trolley service (with the tacky trolleys) to the city. The trolley service, tried once before during lunch hours and fizzled, is stated to help drum up business during the evening hours as well as spur the night life of the city.

Normally with such a news story, I would just read it, roll my eyes and forget it but a comment by the Art Barnes, General Manager of the Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA), caught my attention. That comment was this: “just because something doesn’t work in one venue doesn’t mean you should give up on it."

Upon reading that comment, I immediately thought of all the waste done by transit systems and city leaders across America based on that very philosophy. Try, try and try again until the idea can be force fit into the fabric of the city just doesn't spell good fiscal management nor does it spell success.

I like Art Barnes and have corresponded with him in the past but his comment is a philosophy that I see practiced almost daily and I must disagree with him. The philosophy he states usually fails with costly results. The philosophy is almost ingrained into the thinking of public officials who give little thought about spending taxpayer money.

Just like with my local transit system who mastered the technique of trying to get a failed strategy to work and literally crippled the operation due to the excessive costs, the Winston-Salem trolley plan is similar. It is a plan that has failed in the past and should be left to rest in peace.

What we hear though is that "such trolley services have been successful in other cities". Wow, then let's jump on the bandwagon! What works in one city doesn't mean it will work in another city if tried. A point often ignored and ignored in this case as well. Lunchtime trolley operations work in other cities but failed miserably in Winston-Salem.

If the venture is funded strictly through private money, it's a whole new ball game but it won't be. What will happen is that more and more public money will have to be sunk into the plan if it gets up and running. The WSTA will most likely end up on the short end of the financial stick as money that should go for regular WSTA service on it's many routes will be siphoned off to pay for the night time tacky trolley operation that will not even come close to being cost effective.

The comment toward the end about extending the proposed service to colleges and having them pay for it is laughable as well. Oh you may get them to pay a small portion of the service but nowhere close to what is needed to run the service. Colleges will insist on free service for the students as well for a fraction of the actual cost of the service.

I say, let a proven failure rest in peace. Resurrecting a tacky trolley operation on the public dime, when it has failed before, will do nothing to improve business at the bars and clubs nor will it keep the roads free of drivers that have had too much to drink.

Another flawed rail study?

Charlotte NC - Critics of Charlotte's light rail line charge that a study done by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and commissioned by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce is skewed to favor rail. The report, used to bolster public support for a controversial tax, has critics of Charlotte's rail operation and tax to support it questioning the fairness as well as the accuracy of it.

Questions surrounding the study and report center around the fact that it was commissioned by a group favorable to the rail plan and tax. Records indicate that the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Bob Morgan, may have influenced how the rail study was handled by the UNCC.

The UNCC is investigating the matter but it's like in Washington DC when politicians police their own members. They won't find much that they did wrong. Even if researchers purposely ignored certain facts, the study was more than likely handled properly within the realm of the UNCC policy.

The policy prohibits "serious deviation" from commonly accepted research practices, including fabrication, falsification or plagiarism. Even ignoring key data and cherry picking the results would not fall within the grasp of the policy. Only making up their own data in lieu of gathering the data properly, deliberately changing results or stealing results from another source would violate the policy. I don't believe that happened here.

What I believe may have happened was that key data was ignored and not even looked at as well as results being cherry-picked to create at report that the people, who commissioned the report, wanted to see. The UNCC did nothing wrong beside possibly not looking at all information and not including information that didn't meet the study criteria. Research is like statistics, data can be viewed and even ignored in a variety of ways while not violating any ethics policy.

This isn't the first time such a thing happened. Studies generally tend to slant toward the views of whoever commissioned the study, regardless of who does the study. This is why I tend to question all the various studies that are being waved around by various groups and government agencies. The studies to believe lean more toward those studies that end up being buried by the groups that commissioned them as it doesn't say what they want it to say.

Personally speaking, the various studies being done for anything and everything these days aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Few produced are done without being commissioned by some group that is paying for the study to be done and setting the study criteria. Of course the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce will get a report favorable to their position when they are the ones setting the criteria of the study. I would bet that if the rail critics commissioned a study and set the criteria, they'd get one that supports their views.

Using commissioned studies to sway popular opinion has become a big business these days. Few are accurate and even fewer are non-biased. While the UNCC study will hold up to the internal investigation since it most likely didn't violate any internal policy, it is still a highly questionable report given the fact that it was a commissioned study which had the study criteria set by the group paying for it.

Charlotte's historic streetcar to sit

Charlotte NC - The Charlotte Observer reports on the latest boondoggle by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS). This time it was restoring a vintage trolley car before checking on the implications of running it with the new LRT cars.

While a noble act and one that as a transit fan of history I truly appreciate, CATS literally blew $180,000 of tax money to restore Charlotte's last remaining true streetcar. Surprisingly, CATS even admits that they didn't bother to assess the risks before spending the money. In other words, they were in such a rush to spend taxpayer money that they didn't think. They only saw the positives through the rose colored glasses they wear when it comes to rail.

Plans were to run the venerable number 85 in service on the new LRT line. The Feds nixed that idea when they found out about it because the old streetcar could not stand up to a collision with the newer and heavier LRT cars.

Now number 85 will sit and be brought only on special occasions and that will be rarely as it will disrupt the LRT line operations. Basically CATS paid good money to make a static exhibit.

While $180,000 is chump change in the public transit industry these days, this story still shows the desire of transit systems to find new ways to spend taxpayer money on everything except providing service. It also shows the lack of planning and foresight of CATS and why there is currently a push to get the dedicated sales tax repealed.

Is Charlotte next on the transit chopping block?

Charlotte NC - The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) gave its story of doom and gloom to the public on the subject of the effort to repeal the half cent, transit dedicated, sales tax. The Charlotte Observer reports on this as well as the retort by critics.

CATS is threatening massive route cuts and higher property taxes if the half cent tax is repealed. The critics say this is simply scare tactics. The critics of CATS may have a big surprise coming.

The big problem here is that the rail line is almost complete so guess what, it has to run or a huge repayment of funds to the Feds will have to occur. If the line doesn't run, Charlotte is on the hook for over $300 million that must be repaid (the FTA requires immediate lump sum reimbursement) and I can guarantee you, that line is going to run and the bus service will ultimately suffer to keep the rail line running.

The critics waited way too long to try and do something to stop the line. Hell, many opposed to the rail line now were in favor of it initially. There are also questions about how the signatures on the petitions to repeal the sales tax were obtained which puts a cloud over the critics.

This situation wouldn't be occurring if CATS didn't just have to have expensive rail toys to play with. Now that they have their toys and have the pro-rail crowd wetting their pants in joy over a new rail operation starting up soon, it has to be paid for. The repeal of the dedicated transit tax is a stupid move by the opponents of the system and I truly question why they waited so long to act. They fail to understand that they'll just pay for the line through higher property taxes and higher rental payments for those that rent.

As far as the CATS proposals, they are putting forth the doomsday plans to the public. Yes, it is a scare tactic to a point but cuts will come if the dedicated funding source that provides 60% of it's operating money is taken away. Simply hiking fares won't cover the loss of the funding. Property owners will fight getting their taxes raised but the taxes will go up but not enough to cover the shortfall of repealing the dedicated tax. The critics of CATS are totally wrong to try and pull the funding from the transit system at this late date. It smacks of a child that wants his way throwing a temper tantrum.

What is needed is to pressure the politicians, the same ones that the critics most likely voted for, to stop CATS from continuing with the planning for the expansion of the rail line when the first line hasn't even proven itself yet. The critics that are claiming CATS is just using scare tactics and demand that the dedicated sales tax be repealed will be the first ones whining when cuts do happen and property taxes go up.

While I agree CATS needs to straighten itself out, especially in management, the critics are going about trying to correct the problems in completely the wrong way.

If the critics can get the dedicated sales tax reversed on the ballot, why didn't they just have a ballot initiative saying no more rail after this? After all, the planning of the expansion of the rail system is what got this tax revolt started in the first place.

What is happening is Charlotte is rather confusing and becoming more clouded as time moves on as more and more reasons are being tossed into the pot as to why the tax should be repealed. All I know from following this story for a while is that the critics blew it by waiting so long to do anything. Now it's too late and anything done will ultimately hurt the public. Not just those that depend on transit but all of the residents since repealing the tax at this time will put a stranglehold on a big part of Charlotte's economic engine.

I've been there and done that. Pittsburgh, after years of scare tactics to get money, is finally making massive service cuts (finalized and going into effect in June 2007). Those that say transit systems won't do massive cuts only need to look at Pittsburgh to see that times have changed. Transit systems can't just make threats of cuts anymore, they have to do it as money is tight. Charlotte residents appear to be on the verge of learning a new tactic in public transit, threats can be real.

Repeal the transit tax drive gains momentum

Charlotte NC - The Charlotte Observer reports on a drive to repeal a sales tax dedicated to mass transit because of massive cost overruns and poor planning of the new light rail line.

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) and the city are taking notice of this drive too. They have basically warned the people that if they vote to eliminate the tax, they'll get their money by raising other taxes such as property taxes.

CATS basically put itself in this position of risking their dedicated funding by the mismanagement of the light rail line that is set to open in November 2007. In addition, they are already spending millions in planning the expansion of the line without even knowing if light rail will work in Charlotte. These two issues are primarily what is driving the petition drive to eliminate the dedicated sales tax for CATS.

The big problem for CATS is that the dedicated sales tax also helps pay for the bus operation. Since the passing of the tax in 1998, CATS has greatly expanded bus service. Without the tax and the first line of CATS new expensive toy just about ready to roll, bus service will literally have to be sacrificed at the alter to pay to run the LRT line. Not just the recently expanded service but the service that existed prior to the tax being passed.

While the City and CATS are threatening property tax increases to cover the loss of the sales tax, it will put the money that CATS gets into a more unstable funding environment.

What the supporters of the petition drive should be doing rather than trying to repeal the sales tax is to get something like the following on the ballot for the next election:

Do you support eliminating the planning for the expansion of the existing LRT line for a period of XX years?

By forcing CATS to stop planning future extensions of the line for the time being, they will then learn if LRT works for Charlotte or if it's just a huge white elephant. It will stop the spending of millions on studies and plans on extending a rail line that hasn't proven itself. If the line proves to be successful, then after some number of years, CATS can then expand it. If it's a waste of money, then pressure can be more easily used to keep CATS from expanding the rail line.

The bottom line is that by repealing the mass transit tax in Charlotte is like cutting your nose off to spite your face. It will hurt the bus operation that many do depend on.