Sustainable Financing for Public Transportation

Transcription

1 Transportation Tuesdays APTA Webinar Series for Transit CEOs and Board Members on Economic Sustainability November 8, 2011 Sustainable Financing for Public Transportation Dow Constantine Kevin Desmond Alison A. Hewitt Philip Hale

2 Sustainable Financing: National Overview Art Guzzetti APTA Vice President-Policy

3 Achieving Regional Consensus: Strategic Planning Reform & Building a Coalition for Sustainable Transit Funding Dow Constantine, King County Executive Seattle, WA Kevin Desmond, General Manager King County Metro Transit, Seattle, WA

4 Achieving Regional Consensus Strategic Planning Reform and Building a Coalition for Sustainable Transit Financing

5 Lake Forest Park Bothell Woodinville King County, Washington Shoreline Kenmore Kirkland Redmond Duvall Yarrow Point 2,000 square miles Population 1.9 million Seattle Medina Hunts Point Clyde Hill Beaux Arts Bellevue Sammamish Carnation 39 cities Mercer Island Metro operates bus and trolley routes, paratransit, vanpools 110 million passengers Normandy Park Burien SeaTac Tukwila Renton Newcastle Issaquah Snoqualmie North Bend Des Moines Kent Covington Maple Valley Auburn Federal Way Black Diamond Algona Milton Pacific Enumclaw

6 King County Executive Dow Constantine

7 Governance Structure King County Council County Executive Regional Transit Committee Department of Transportation King County Metro Transit

8 Financial Crisis Threatens Service Transfer from capital 3.6% Misc 4.8% Property tax 3.6% Fares 23.6% Other operations revenue 3.1% Sales tax 61.4% Sales tax revenue shortfall = $1.1 billion

9 Regional Transit Task Force 28 voting members Elected officials (6) Business/economic development (3) Labor (2) Education (2) Social service (2) Large employers (2) People with disabilities (1) Good government (1) Environment (2) Transportation experts (2) Riders or citizen reps (3) Transit Advisory Committee rep (1) Puget Sound Regional Council rep (1) 3 non-voting members Metro general manager Sound Transit senior staff member Washington State Legislature staff member Steering committee County Executive 3 County Council members

10 Regional Transit Task Force Charge Develop recommendations including: Criteria for systematically growing the transit system Criteria for systematically reducing the transit system if necessary Strategies for increasing Metro s efficiency State and federal legislative agenda Should reflect key system design factors Land use Social equity and environmental justice Financial sustainability Geographic equity Economic development Productivity and efficiency Environmental sustainability

11 Recommendations Adopt new performance measures Control operating costs Base service reduction and growth decisions on policy priorities, not a formula Emphasize productivity Ensure social equity Provide geographic value Create clear, transparent service allocation guidelines Create long-term sustainable funding base

12

13

14 State Legislative Strategy

15 Proposed Adoption of Congestion Reduction Charge $20 per vehicle 2 years only Supermajority council approval or public vote

16 Building Support

17 Thousands Expressed Support

18 Congestion Reduction Charge Passes

19 Outcome Focus now on long-term sustainable funding Transparency Retain coalition engagement and enthusiasm Thank you!

20 Achieving Regional Consensus: Strategic Planning Reform & Building a Coalition for Sustainable Transit Funding Dow Constantine, King County Executive Seattle, WA Kevin Desmond, General Manager King County Metro Transit, Seattle, WA

21 Building Community Support for a Tax Increase to Fund Transit Alison A. Hewitt, Chair, APTA Transit Board Members Committee, and Chair, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Tampa, FL Philip Hale, Chief Executive Officer Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Tampa, FL

22 Building Community Support for a Tax Increase to Fund Transit Context Education Lessons Learned

23 HART: APTA s 2010 Outstanding Mid-Sized Public Transportation System Hillsborough County, Florida Service area: 1,000 square miles 14.2 million trips in FY2011 (all modes) Service: Bus, Express, HARTPlus, HARTFlex, In-Town Trolley, Streetcar

24 What was happening in 2010/2011? Bad news: Sales referendum for rapid transit failed in November Good news: Increased awareness about public transit. New contacts and partnerships. Updated demographic information about the sentiment of local transit among Hillsborough County voters and residents.

25 What was happening in 2010/2011? Challenges for the Board of Directors: Negative political sentiment for supporters of any tax increase small or large Challenges for HART Staff: Maintaining neutrality and quality service

26 Education: Start Early Start Early No surprises April 2011 Proposed budget introduced September 2011 Final budget approved

27 Education: Audiences HART Board Stakeholders Customers Public Employees Media

28 Education: Communication Analysis PROBLEMS NUMBERS LOGIC Conceptual FLEXIBLITY CREATIVITY VISION Structural PROCESS PRACTICALITY PRAGMATISM Emotional TESTIMONIALS SOCIAL SYMPATHY

29 Education: Audiences & Communication

30 Education: Problems Numbers Logic Funding v. Service Level Increase Revenues/Reduce Expenses Failed Referendum in ,000,000 13,000,000 12,000,000 11,000,000 10,000,000 9,000,000 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 $36,423,195 $36,586,961 $36,106,704 $31,829,730 $28,249,620 FY 07 Actual FY 08 Actual FY 09 Actual FY 10 Actual FY 11 Projected $40,000,000 $35,000,000 $30,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $- Ridership Ad Valorem

31 Education: Flexibility Creativity Vision Options Creative Efficiencies Economic impact

32 Education: Process Practicality Pragmatism Timelines/Deadlines Practical solutions Heard the voice of the voters: Rail = No, Public Transit = Yes Neutrality

33 Education: Process Practicality Pragmatism All Modes of Service Total Operations Budget FY2011 FY2012* FY2013* (in millions) Adopted Proposed Proposed April Presentation $62.7 $65.7 $68.7 May Presentation $62.7 $64.7 $67.7 June Presentation $62.7 $61.2 $63.7 July Presentation $62.7 $60.7 $62.8

34 Education: Testimonials Social Sympathy Diverse customer base

35 End Result: MANY Property tax rate increase by a unanimous vote. Board Directors were fully educated about the budget and was able to support its vote with detailed information. Minimized negative media coverage.

36 Lessons Learned Keep audiences fully educated Educate audiences so you build upon a productive budget process

37 Building Community Support for a Tax Increase to Fund Transit Alison A. Hewitt, Chair, APTA Transit Board Members Committee, and Chair, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Tampa, FL Philip Hale, Chief Executive Officer Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Tampa, FL

38 Transportation Tuesdays APTA Webinar Series on Economic Sustainability Sustainable Financing for Public Transportation Dow Constantine Kevin Desmond Alison A. Hewitt Philip Hale

39 Transportation Tuesdays APTA Webinar Series Transit CEOs & Board Members Sustainable Financing for Public Transportation The audio and PowerPoint for today s webinar will be available at under Resource Library Professional Development APTA Webcasts, Webinars & Online Training or at this URL:

40 Transportation Tuesdays APTA Webinar Series on Economic Sustainability You are invited to the next webinar in this series: Tues. December 6, 2-3 p.m. Eastern November Election Results Lessons, strategies, and messages that made the difference Speakers: Jason Jordan, director, Center for Transportation Excellence Peter Varga, immediate past chair, APTA Small Operations Steering Committee, and CEO, Interurban Transit Partnership (The Rapid), Grand Rapids, MI