Measuring the Governance of Public Transportation Systems in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Funding structures and political fragmentation play an important role in shaping the transit system in any state or region. The authors detail the development of a transit governance index (TGI) capable of capturing the extent to which regionalizing coordinative mechanisms including both governance and funding mechanisms, can overcome the institutional fragmentation of metropolitan public transportation systems, among general purpose local governments, transit agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations. The authors discuss the conceptual logic behind the TGI, and the data collection and analysis efforts used to operationalize this concept. The authors illustrate the calculation of the TGI with a comparison of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), with an overview of other MSAs used to design the index (Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Tampa-St. Petersburg- Clearwater). The authors conclude with a discussion of next steps and an outline of a research agenda for employing the TGI as an explanatory variable in the estimation of transit equity models.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE10 Standing Committee on Revenue and Finance.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Weinreich, David P
  • Skuzinski, Thomas S
  • Hamidi, Shima
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equity; Financing; Governance; Local government; Metropolitan areas; Metropolitan planning organizations; Public transit; Transit operating agencies
• Identifier Terms: Metropolitan Statistical Areas
• Geographic Terms: Chicago Metropolitan Area; Philadelphia Metropolitan Area; United States
• Subject Areas: Finance; Policy; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01697813
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-03412
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 1 2019 3:51PM